Deliverable (D03) available

The twentieth deliverable of the project is the third and last one within work package 1 ('Socio-economic aspects of automatic milking') is entitled 'Socio-economic implications of automatic milking systems'.

The objective of this deliverable was to analyze the economic and social implications of automatic milking (AM) at the farm level. For this, a farm level survey was performed. A questionnaire was designed to capture the characteristics and motivations of AM farmers, farm characteristics (such as farm size, grazing system, etc.) and the implications of the introduction of an AM-system. In total 107 respondents (13 AM users in Belgium, 57 in the Netherlands, 13 in Denmark and 24 in Germany) were interviewed face-to-face in November 2001 - November 2002. From 43 of these farmers also the accounts or part of the accounts were acquired. AM farmers report an average reduction of labour use of 20-21%. When hired labour is employed, it is laid off. When there is no hired labour, AM farmers spend more time on leisure and with the family. As a result, most AM users report that the quality of life has increased. No widespread evidence of any negative implications, such as increased stress, have been found.
To assess the financial implications of AM, a set of typical farms were simulated. A 68-cow farm in Germany and an 80-cow farm in Belgium that may invest in a 1-box system, and a 90-cow farm in the Netherlands and a 150 cow-farm in Denmark that may invest in a 2-box system were considered. For the typical farms in Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands investing in an AM-system is profitable if income per hour of family labour is used as an index of profitability. Income from the dairy enterprise only increases for the Danish farm, while profit from the dairy enterprise increases for the Belgian and the Danish farm. The results are particularly sensitive to assumptions on investment costs and labour reduction.

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