There are more than 35,000 operational robotic milking system (RMS) units on dairy farms all over the world. The major reasons why dairy producers are installing milking robots are to expand without needing to hire additional labour and to improve their lifestyle.
The herringbone parlour is one of the most effective types of the automatic milking machine.
What Drives The Profitability of Robotic Milking System?
The major factors that affect RMS profitability are the length of the useful life, labour savings, milk produced per day per robot, and milk produced per cow. The main disadvantage is having to pay $150,000 to $200,000 for each robot that can each milk 50-70 cows. Most of the historical data shows that milking robots is not as profitable as conventional milking systems. These results may change by higher labour costs, improved management skills, and robotic technology advancements.
Labour Efficiency
The USDA reported that the wages paid to livestock employees increased by 4% in 2015 and 3% in 2014. RMS labour savings that have been reported vary. No savings up to a maximum of 29% savings have been reported by researchers for RMS. A lot of this variation might be explained by barn management and design. According to Farm Management Records from Firbin (2016) shows that RMS farms in the Upper Midwest averaged 2.2 million pounds of milk per each full-time worker while similar-sized herds milked in parlours average 1.5 million pounds.
Another factor that affects the decision for installing robots is the availability of labour in the future to milk cows. A 2014 survey (Adcock et al., 2015) showed that immigrant labour made up 51% of total farm labour. There could be a reduction in the availability of immigrant workers in the future if fewer foreign workers decide to work on farms or if the US passes tighter immigration laws.
Change in milk production when transitioning over to robots
The main driver for milk production changes with RMS is milking frequency changes. It was found by de Koning (2010) that robotic herds saw 5% to 10% production increases compared to 2X milking. However, production was reduced by 5% to 50% when compared to 3X milking. Our survey showed an average of 2.8 RMS milking frequency with a 2.4 to 3.2 range. In order to optimise efficiency, the aim is to have lower milking frequency during later lactation and high milking frequency during early lactation. The main factors affecting herd and individual cow average milking frequency include the following:
Change in milk production when transitioning over to robots
The main driver for milk production changes with RMS is milking frequency changes. It was found by de Koning (2010) that robotic herds saw 5% to 10% production increases compared to 2X milking. However, production was reduced by 5% to 50% when compared to 3X milking. Our survey showed an average of 2.8 RMS milking frequency with a 2.4 to 3.2 range. In order to optimise efficiency, the aim is to have lower milking frequency during later lactation and high milking frequency during early lactation. The main factors affecting herd and individual cow average milking frequency include the following:
Bijl et al. (2007) did a comparison of the economic performance of Dutch farms that used RMS that matched closely conventional farms milking at 2X. Conventional farms proved to be more profitable, due to the higher costs incurred by RMS. However, RMS farms had 29% lower labour requirements which resulted in more income and milk production per worker. The conclusion was that RMS investment allows farms to use less labour to produce more milk and milk more cows.
Milk Per Robot
To maximize profit, it is important to maximize daily milk per robot. With a four robot system over a 20-year time frame and using 2% yearly wage inflation, annual net income increases by about $4,100 for each 500-pound daily milk increase per robot. Some US farms are currently consistently harvesting more than 6,000 pounds of milk per robot per day. It is achieved through a combination of a high number of cows on each robot (frequently over 60) and high daily milk amounts per cow. The most important factors of this achievement are:
RMS in the best working condition
Reduced box time on each cow
Milking strategies and permission settings that get the right number of cows milked at the proper times