However, most decision makers are more often than not, overwhelmed with the large amounts of data, but are actually faced with only a limited supply of information. The value of this information is directly related to the decisions the managers have to make. The dairy farm manager is as always faced with the challenge of allocating scarce resources within an uncertain production environment in attempting to achieve a defined set of goals and objectives. The manager is basically a controller of the production process and is therefore a problem solver, faced with monitoring and maintaining control over the business. Each or these types of information has a role to play in the decision making process.
Descriptive information is probably the most abundant type of information on the dairy farm.
This type of information is useful in characterizing farm business size and performance measures. This type of information is used to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of a business. It goes beyond simply describing the situation of the operation, by relating the descriptive measures to objectives or goals identified as important by the manager or management team. Examples of current level of milk sold per cow to the expected or desired level for a particular herd. IF kinds of questions.