Dairy key performance indicators
Improve your competitiveness by comparing your performance with our measures and targets to identify areas for improvement.
The measures are broken down into two areas:
- Technical key performance indicators which highlight the six key areas for both all year round (AYR) and block calving systems which are crucial to delivering the financial performance required
- Three key business measures that every business should know, understand and benchmark their performance against.
The measures show what excellent, good and average dairy farmers are achieving using industry data from the top 5%, 25% and average performers.
All year round calving KPIs
| Key Performance Indicators |
Excellent performance | Good performance | Average performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pregnancy rate (%) | >25% | 20% | 14% |
| Age at first calving (months) |
23 months (but not less than 22 months) |
24 months | 27.5 months |
| Total purchased feed costs (pence/litre) |
8,000l -7ppl 10,000l - 7.8ppl 12,000l - 8ppl |
8,000l -7.5ppl 10,000l - 8.5ppl 12,000l - 8.5ppl |
8,000l -8ppl 10,000l - 9ppl 12,000l - 9.5ppl |
| Average daily lifetime yield (litres/day) | >19 litres | 14.5 litres | 12.5 litres |
| Overheads (excluding rent and finance) (ppl) | 9ppl | 10ppl | 12.5ppl |
| Genetic merit | 5th percentile | 25th percentile | 50th pecentile |
How are all year round calving KPIs calculated?
Work out your genetic merit if you don't have a herd genetic report
Block calving KPIs
| Key Performance Indicators | Excellent performance | Good performance | Average performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cows and heifers calved within the first 6 weeks (%) | >90% | 80% | 70% |
| Herd replacement rate (%) | <20% | 22% | 26% |
| Milk solids output per ha (Kg milk solids/hectare) | >1,500kg/ha | 1,250kg/ha | 1,100kg/ha |
| Milk yield from forage (litres) and (solids) | >5,000l (427kg) | 4,000l (342kg) | 2,750l (235kg) |
| Overheads (excluding rent and finance) (ppl) | 9ppl | 10.5ppl | 12.5ppl |
| Genetic merit | 5th percentile | 25th percentile | 50th percentile |
How are block calving KPIs calculated?
Work out your genetic merit if you don't have a herd genetic report
Financial KPIs
| Key Performance Indicators | Excellent performance | Good performance | Average performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full economic net margin (ppl) | 7ppl | 2ppl | -3ppl |
| Return on tenants capital (%) | >20% | 14% | 3% |
| Full economic costs of production (ppl) | AYR<27.5ppl Block<24ppl |
30ppl | 34.5ppl |
How are financial KPIs calculated?
Work out your figures with our KPI Express tool
Strategic dairy farm KPIs
Our strategic dairy farms openly share their KPIs so you can see how they perform against a number or technical and financial measures.
Explore our strategic dairy farms