The objective of this work was to evaluate the economic impact of the implementation of good agricultural practices (GAP) related to hygienic and sanitary quality of milk. The study consisted in simulating nine scenarios with three different levels of GAP for the improvement of milk quality (low, medium and high) in three different situations (application of GAP only; application of GAP and "milk room" building; application of GAP, "milk room" building and acquisition of a bulk tank). The hypothetic dairy herd had 30 lactating cows, with an average of 10 liters of milk/cow/day and milked twice a day by an automatic milking bucket. The revenues consisted of the bonus/penalty average established by 10 dairy plants in the southeast region, considering the different ranges of somatic cell count (SCC) and total bacterial count (TBC). The inclusion of the GAP to improve milk quality, when practiced at maximum level, showed itself with rapid return on invested capital (payback) and excellent internal rate of return (IRR) only for those farmers who already had the "milk room" and the bulk tank.
economic analysis; dairy cattle; good manufacturing practices; simulation
