The Impact of bST on Farm Profits

Data from the same 138 New York dairy farms for the years 1994 through 1997 were used to estimate whether Bovine Somatotropin (bST) generated profits for adopters. Data from these same farms from 1993 were used to sort farms into groups by production per cow, profit per cow, and farm size, in order to test bST response by these delineators. Statistically, farms that used bST on average experienced an output response per cow, but did not profit from using bST. The exception are farms with cows producing between 8159 to 9157 kilograms per cow, who appear to be making money from bST. Lower production per cow farms are getting a bST output response, but are not making money from that response; higher production per cow farms are not even getting a statistically significant output response