Stephen L. Ott and C. Matthew Rendleman
CEAH & Southern Illinois University
Based on a 1996 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) survey of 1,178 dairy producers and a milk price of $13 per hundredweight (cwt), optimal recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) use would be 73 percent of cows. Such a rate would increase herd-level milk production by 2,983 pounds per cow and herd-level net returns by $126 per cow.
Key words: Milk production; profitability; recombinant bovine somatotropin; rBST.