Economic impacts associated with bovine somatotropin (BST) use based on survey of US dairy herds

Abstract

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 herdlevel milk production by 2,983 pounds per cow and herd-level net returns by $126 per cow.