Milk Solids kgMS Calculator NZ

New Zealand dairy farmers are paid per kilogram of milk solids, not per litre, and this converts between the two. Milk solids here means fat plus protein, which is what the farmgate milk price is quoted against, so a payout of nine dollars something is nine dollars something for every kilogram of fat and protein you supply. The water and the lactose make up most of what goes in the tanker and are not what you are paid for. That is why two farms shipping identical volumes can be paid noticeably differently, and why composition is worth as much attention as production. A herd testing 9.5 percent combined solids earns close to ten percent more from the same tanker load than one testing 8.7 percent, and nothing about the volume gives that away. Composition moves with breed, with stage of lactation and with feeding, which is how a Jersey herd can ship visibly less milk than a Friesian herd of the same size and still be paid well for it. Enter the volume and the fat and protein percentages from your herd test or your company statement, add cow numbers and effective hectares if you have them, and the per cow and per hectare figures come out alongside the total.

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87,000 kgMS
kilograms of milk solids
Per cow334.6 kgMS
Per hectare915.8 kgMS
Combined solids8.7%
Solids a litre87 g/L

Fat and protein are taken as grams per 100 millilitres, which is how herd testing and company statements report them.

How it works

Fat and protein percentages are added together to give combined solids, and because herd testing reports composition as grams per 100 millilitres, that combined figure is also grams per 100 millilitres. Multiply by ten for grams a litre, apply it to the volume and divide by a thousand for kilograms. Milk testing 4.8 percent fat and 3.9 percent protein carries 8.7 grams of solids in every 100 millilitres, which is 87 grams a litre, so a million litres carries 87,000 kilograms of milk solids. Per cow and per hectare simply divide that total by the numbers you enter.

What per hectare is actually telling you

Kilograms of milk solids a hectare is the production measure most used to compare New Zealand dairy farms, because it captures both how many cows the land carries and how well each of them milks in a single number. Per cow flatters a lightly stocked farm and per hectare flatters a heavily stocked one, so the pair together says more than either alone. Both depend on effective hectares, meaning the land actually being milked off, not the title area, and quietly using the title area is a common way for a per hectare figure to look better than it is.

Worked example

A farm shipping 1,000,000 litres at 4.8 percent fat and 3.9 percent protein produces 87,000 kilograms of milk solids. Across 260 cows that is 334.6 kilograms a cow, and across 95 effective hectares it is 915.8 kilograms a hectare. If the same volume tested at 5.2 percent fat and 4.1 percent protein instead, the total would be 93,000 kilograms, which is 6,000 kilograms more from exactly the same tanker loads. At a payout near nine dollars that difference is worth over fifty thousand dollars, without an extra litre being produced.

Related calculators

Data sources: milk solids means fat plus protein, which is the basis New Zealand farmgate milk price is quoted and paid on. No composition figures are supplied here, because fat and protein vary with breed, stage of lactation and feeding. Take yours from your herd test or company statement.

Frequently asked questions

What is kgMS?

Kilograms of milk solids, which in New Zealand means the fat plus the protein in the milk. It is the unit farmgate milk price is quoted and paid in, so a payout of nine dollars something is nine dollars something for every kilogram of fat and protein supplied, not for every litre. Water and lactose make up most of the volume and are not what you are paid for, which is why two farms shipping the same litres can be paid quite differently.

How do you convert litres of milk to kgMS?

Add the fat and protein percentages together and apply that to the volume. Since herd testing reports composition as grams per 100 millilitres, a milk testing 4.8 percent fat and 3.9 percent protein carries 8.7 grams of solids in every 100 millilitres, or 87 grams a litre. Multiply the litres by that and divide by a thousand for kilograms.

Why does composition matter more than volume?

Because payment follows solids, not litres. A herd testing at 9.5 percent combined solids produces almost ten percent more income from the same tanker load than one testing at 8.7 percent. Composition varies with breed, with stage of lactation and with feeding, and it is the reason Jersey herds can be paid well while shipping noticeably less volume than a Friesian herd of the same size.