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Context: Dairy operations have adopted benchmarking as a methodology to rank farms and establish target indexes; however, a connection between benchmarking and farms in the tropics is still warranted. Aims: To evaluate the technical and economic quartiles based on farm return on assets (ROA) of three regions (Centre, South and Triangle) of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and use them to establish benchmarks for dairy farms. Methods: We collected data from 128 dairy farms (from January to December of 2019). All properties were part of the Educampo® project/Sebrae-MG. Farms were grouped into the Centre, South and Triangle regions, and subdivided into three groups within each region according to their ROA, where 25% of the farms that presented the lowest ROA were classified as the first quartile, 50% of farms were classified as interquartile and the 25% remaining farms were classified as the fourth quartile. Data were analysed as a randomised block design in a split-plot scheme, where the production systems were blocks, the regions were the main plots and the groups were the split plots. Differences were declared when P ≤ 0.10. Key results: Total operating cost ($/L; $ – this currency is in US dollars and it applies throughout the paper); accrual operating cost ($/L); production costs, such as roughage ($/L), hired labour ($/L), percentage of concentrate and hired labour in accrual operating cost (%), were affected by regions and groups. The South and fourth quartile had the greatest total operating cost (0.24 $/L; 0.26 $/L) and accrual operating cost (0.27 $/L; 0.30 $/L), respectively. The majority of economic indexes were higher for Triangle than South and Centre, respectively. The fourth quartile had the greatest net margin (0.09 $/L), profit (0.07 $/L), return on assets (2%) and assets turnover rate (24%). Conclusions: We suggest that benchmarks should be established by region, as there were too many variations among regions. In addition, this study demonstrated the importance of understanding the behaviour of the technical and economic indicators to stratify farms based on their return on assets. Implications: We evaluated technical and economic indexes from three regions and stratified by ROA. Then, we established benchmarks by regions to better guide the producer in decision-making in dairy operations. The evaluation of technical and economic indexes, and the establishment of benchmarking are important for the financial management of dairy operations. We studied a broad spectrum of dairy farms, and analysed which indicators vary the most in high, intermediate and low return on assets' farms. Lastly, we demonstrated the importance of categorising technical and financial indexes to create new benchmarks by region, and that this analysis must be periodically performed, aiming for greater profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to evaluate the ruminal fermentation patterns of forage kochia (FK) compared with alfalfa hay (AH) and orchardgrass hay (OH) (Exp. 1), and ephedra (EPH) and immature cheatgrass (CG) compared with OH (Exp. 2), using a dual-flow continuous culture system. Two in vitro experiments were conducted, and in each experiment, treatments were randomly assigned to six dual-flow fermenters (1,223 ± 21 mL) in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design, with three consecutive periods of 10 d each, consisting of 7 d for diet adaptation and 3 d for sample collection. Each fermenter was fed a total of 72 g/d (DM basis) and treatments were as follows: Exp. 1: 1) 100% OH, 2) 100% AH, and 3) 100% dried FK. Exp. 2: 1) 100% OH, 2) 100% dried CG, and 3) 100% dried EPH. On day 8, 9, and 10, samples of solid and liquid effluent from each fermenter were taken for digestibility analysis, and subsamples were collected for NH3-N, VFA, and bacterial N determinations. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. In Exp. 1, treatments did not affect DM, OM, and NDF digestibilities, total VFA and molar proportions of acetate, propionate, butyrate, and branched-chain VFA. True CP digestibility, ruminal NH3-N concentration, and total N, NH3- N, NAN, and dietary N flows (g/d) were greater (P < 0.05) for FK compared with the other forages. However, treatments did not affect bacterial efficiency. In Exp. 2, DM, OM, and CP digestibilities were greater (P = 0.01) for EPH, and NDF digestibility was greater (P < 0.05) for EPH and CG compared with OH. Ephedra had the highest (P < 0.05) pH and acetate:propionate ratio and the lowest (P < 0.05) total VFA concentration. Total VFA, ruminal NH3-N concentration, and NH3-N flow (g/d) were highest (P < 0.05) for CG. Total N flow and bacterial efficiency were highest (P < 0.05) for OH and CG, while the flows (g/d) of NAN, bacterial N, and dietary N were greater (P < 0.05) for OH compared with the other forages. Results indicate that when compared with AH and OH (Exp. 1), FK has similar ruminal fermentation patterns and may be an adequate alternative for beef cattle producers. Furthermore, when compared with OH (Exp. 2), immature CG may also be an adequate forage alternative. This is especially important for areas in which conventional forages may not grow well such as the U.S. arid-land. However, EPH should not be used as the sole forage due to its poor ruminal fermentation as evidenced by the lowest total VFA concentration and propionate molar proportion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]