Economic Evaluation of Irrigated Dairy Forage Production.

An optimisation model was developed to compare the profitability of different forage species on irrigated dairy farms. The model is driven by the energy and protein requirements of the milking cow. The objective of the model is to maximise income, after herd and feed costs, by selecting the area of the farm sown to particular forage species. Different forage species may require different animal production systems to optimise their profitability. In order to achieve this, the model can alter the herd size and structure, level of production, concentrate feeding regime and forage conservation and feeding on a monthly basis.