A survey was performedon milk production costs of three farms which supply milk for the same milkprocessing line, on the fluminense mountain region and Zona da Mata of MinasGerais, in the year of 2002: Capril Pedra Branca (CPB), Capril Vale da Braúna(CVB) and Capril Via Capri (CVC). The Capril Pedra Branca and Capril Vale daBraúna represented confining production systems whereas Capril PedraBranca bought all the feed while Capril Vale da Braúna produced partof the forage on the farm. In the Capril Via Capri animals were kept on pastureduring the day, but received feed supplementation at evening. Technical indexesobtained of those farms were compared and used to identify which componentscaused more influence on the total costs of the production activity. Herd feedingwas the most important item on the productive systems, varying between 60 and70 percent of the total cost. The production system of Capril Vale da Braúnashowed the best profitability because of their own forage production that decreasedthe costs with feeding, and supplied the nutrients necessary according to theproduction levels of the animals.
