The objective of this study was to describe technical and economical aspects (productivity, cost and profitability indexes) of four dairy farms in São Paulo, Brazil, from May 1995 to April 1996. High productivity farms corresponded to high profitability ones. The intensive milk production showed a high influence on the cost of milk production. It is suggested that economic performance analysis should integrate productivity system viability analyses on the evaluation of dairy farms.
Dairy farm; farm survey
