An economic appraisal of automatic and conventional milking within a grass based seasonal milk production system

The concept of automatic milking (AM) has perceived potential positive implications, such as reduced labour requirement, increased cow milk yield and greater control of herd management (due to extensive cow information recorded by the milking robot). Potential positive implications have also been associated with integrating AM into a grass based or cow grazing system, e.g. reduced cost of production. Many aspects of AM have been examined but it is the economic implications that will primarily influence the uptake of AM in countries where conventional milking (CM) predominates, especially as it is traditionally considered more in line with cow grazing systems. This study analysed the economic implications of AM and CM using the Moorepark Dairy Systems Model. Data was obtained from typical farms with either CM or AM systems. The model evaluated the interaction between capital cost of milking technology, maintenance and running costs, labour input, machine depreciation for both CM and AM technologies over a 10-year time horizon. The system comparison was carried out with a number of financial metrics for each system including profitability and return on investment.