The objective of this study was to compare the production costs and their influence on the profitability of two dairy farms, located in the city of Unaí - MG, Brazil. Two cases were studied, where one used data technical and managerial control of the farm. One verified a difference among the observed costs, mainly due to the adopted technology. One may conclude that the increase of production scale reduces the fixed costs of the activity, decreasing the total cost and increasing the profits and that the use of viable technology enables a better answer of the system to several production factors, reaching a faster adaptation , influencing the finantial return. It may also conclude that it isn't possible to define the best system in the studied conditions, since the production factors are different.
Dairy cattle; production cost; profitability analysis
