The success of the dairy farm depends on sound financial decision-making. This course is designed to give the student the knowledge and skills to analyze the financial health of the dairy farm and to evaluate improvement and investment opportunities. After completion of the course, the student should be able to 1) interpret financial statements and financial performance, 2) do financial forecasting, 3) know how to evaluate investment opportunities, 4) apply marginal decision making, 5) recognize risk and evaluate risky decisions, 6) use spreadsheets to evaluate decision alternatives, 7) apply optimization methods in financial analyses such as (non)linear programming and dynamic programming, 8) propose a framework for solving new dairy decision making problems. The principles in this course are illustrated with many case studies of practical decision-making problems in dairy production. Examples include: Culling cows, improving reproduction, use of sexed and beef semen, value of genetic improvement, optimal stocking density, how many rations to feed, how much weigh-back feed is optimal, how much to pay for heifers, the cost of animal disease and their control, taking out loans to renovate a barn, etc..  Students will work on a small decision making project of their own. 

Instructor: Dr. Albert DeVries

For more information about our program and other course offerings, visit our website at https://animal.ifas.ufl.edu/fida/.
Please contact us through the following email if you have any questions or concerns: FIDA@ifas.ufl.edu.