The town milk industry has been linked to returns in the factory supply industry for many years by a pricing formula. While the formula has been changed from time to time, it is basically designed to provide equity between these two groups of milk producers. It is difficult to maintain such equity given that the production systems are so different. For this reason it is useful to carry out an analysis of comparative returns from time to time. A survey sample of South Auckland town milk and factory supply dairy farms was undertaken early in 1986. The object was to compare the financial and economic differences between the two types of dairy farms in the 1984-85 financial year. A further objective was to compare the results from this 1984-85 year with the results from a similar survey carried out the previous year in the same region.