Below are comparative figures from the DairyNZ Economic Survey and Kingshay in the UK.
Typically the UK grows 2-4tDM/ha less than NZ and this can be seen in the figures with lower stocking rates and more reliance on purchased feed. It shows that farms in the UK are much smaller, as are herd sizes.
The data does show that the system 4&5 farms in NZ are achieving a much better Margin Over Purchased Feed (MOPF) per hectare than UK farms, but systems 1&2 are behind both.
The more intensive systems in the UK do have a different Fixed Cost structure which will be reviewed in a future article.