Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW Agriculture No 56 (Agricultural and Forest Engineering) 2010: 67 73 (Ann. Warsaw Univ. Life Sci. SGGW, Agricult. 56, 2010) Analysis of effectiveness of milking robots implementation with the examples of selected European countries MAREK GAWORSKI, MARCIN GOCŁOWSKI Department of Production Management and Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW Abstract: Analysis of effectiveness of milking robots implementation with the examples of selected European countries. This work aims at analysis of indices characterizing utilization of an onestand milking robot as well as at comparison of repayment periods of AMS in several European countries. It was analyzed on the basis of sold milk profits obtained from milking robots, as a result of changes in the milk yield of cows and milk prices in 1999 2002 and 2005 2008. It was found that in 2005 2008 the repayment period of one-stand milking robot was shortened when compared to earlier period mentioned; it is a significant circumstance inspiring implementation of modern cow milking technique. Key words: AMS, milk price, effectiveness, cow, profits, yield of milk. INTRODUCTION Automatic milking systems (AMS) are among typical examples of technological progress that create dynamic processes of agricultural transformation and the food management policy [Gaworski 2003]. The scientific and technological progress that enhance reconstruction (modernization) of agriculture can be, however, subjected to actuation and also to retardation in the farms and their infrastructure due to food market situation [Wójcicki 2001]. Therefore, achievement of dynamic increase in agricultural production, determining by ability to generate the specific technological solutions calls for consideration of economic circumstance for agricultural production under given regional conditions [Hayami and Ruttan 1985]. Every introduced progress, not only in agriculture, should be economically or socially justified [Michałek and Kowalski 1993]. In the face of wide problems of milk production system development and the large set of factors shaping the effectiveness of milk production and its initial processing as well as the problems in technological progress implementation in milk farms, this work aimed at analysis of economic aspects of fitting out the farms with one-stand milking robots. The scope of work covered a set of factors connected to economy and biological progress that were used in comparison of repayment periods for the onestand milking robot, based on the profits of sold milk obtained with the use of a robot in selected European countries. METHODIC ASPECTS OF ANALYSIS Methodology of undertaken analysis included in the first stage listing and elaboration of data connected to milk prices and milk yield of cows in the selected
68 M. Gaworski, M. Gocłowski European countries over the considered periods 1999 2002 and 2005 2008. The data were taken from Milk Product, Eurostat, FAO and IERiGŻ-PIB. Basing on the annual average milk price and milk yield in considered countries there was calculated the profit generated from the sold milk per one cow in particular years. In the next stage this profit value was averaged for the considered periods 1999 2002 and 2005 2008. The profit calculated for particular countries was used in calculations of the repayment period for the one-stand milking robot, with consideration to its average price and the number of cows in the herd that could be served (milked) by the analyzed robot version. At the beginning of current decade the price of one-stand robot on the world market varied from 140 to 180 th. EURO [Sangiorgi 2002]. On Great Britain market this cost amounted to about 80 100 th. GBF [Cooper and Parsons 1999], in Denmark to 1250 th. DKK, while in USA to about 160 th. USD. Installation of two milking stands or more called for higher investment costs (e.g. in the United States an additional robot stand costs additionally about 60 th. USD). In detailed analysis there was assumed the cost of fitting out the farm with a one-stand milking robot as 160 th. EURO (for the period 1999 2002) and as 145 th. EURO for the period 2005 2008). Under bigger and bigger availability of AMS on the market, and growing competition between their producers, the prices are gradually decreased resulting in the lower investment costs to be incurred for the implementation of modern milking equipment generation in the farm. The one-stand milking robot is sometimes able to serve the cow herd of even 70 animals. However, the most favourable operational conditions of the robot involve 55 65 cows; therefore, the herd of 55 cows to be served by automatic milking system were assumed in the analysis. RESULTS OF ANALYSIS The detailed analysis of milk purchase prices and the milk yield of cows with calculated value of milk produced annually by one cow in the analyzed countries is presented in Table 1 (1999 2002) and Table 2 (2005 2008). Results of calculated average period of working out profits from purchase of milk produced by the cow herd served by one-stand milking robot were illustrated graphically for 1999 2002 (Fig. 1) and 2005 2008 (Fig. 2). DISCUSSION The results of analysis involving mentioned European countries in 1999 2002 showed a substantial variability between the length of repayment period needed to finance the purchase of fully automatic milking equipment in the milk farms. As it is evident from Figure 1, the shortest and the longest period of repayment is characteristic for Sweden and Poland, respectively. The triple difference in the respective values can be found. Considering the period 2005 2008 one can find the longest repayment period still for Poland (of all considered countries), however, it is positive that
TABLE 1. Milk purchase prices, milk yield of cows and calculated value of milk produced annually by one cow in the analyzed countries in 1999 2002 Country Milk purchase price [EURO/100 kg] Milk yield of cows [kg/cow year] Value of milk per year [EURO/cow year] Years 1999 2000 2001 2002 1999 2000 2001 2002 1999 2000 2001 2002 Austria 27.76 27.83 31.76 30.20 4716 4977 5394 5487 1309.2 1385.1 1713.1 1657.1 Belgium 26.33 27.44 28.58 27.58 5351* 5990 5909 5728 1408.9 1643.7 1688.8 1579.8 Denmark 30.26 30.86 32.34 32.44 7274 7421 7304 7525 2201.1 2290.1 2362.1 2441.1 Finland 32.15 32.72 33.97 32.00 6453 6729 6922 7036 2074.6 2201.7 2351.4 2251.5 France 28.11 28.83 30.00 29.22 5688 5948 5911 6043 1598.9 1714.8 1773.3 1765.8 Greece 33.69 33.88 33.47 35.60 3260 3220 3260 3322 1098.3 1090.9 1091.1 1182.6 Spain 27.33 27.05 30.33 29.39 4667 5139 5195 5148 1275.5 1390.1 1575.6 1513.0 Holland 28.62 29.63 31.27 29.70 7037 7417 7303 7296 2014.0 2197.7 2283.6 2166.9 Ireland 26.66 27.20 28.55 26.40 4272 4382 4551 4492 1138.9 1191.9 1299.3 1185.9 Luxemburg 29.25 29.30 31.38 27.58 5681* 6103 6293 6433 1661.7 1788.2 1974.7 1774.2 Germany 28.47 30.00 32.82 29.98 5909 6122 6212 6281 1682.3 1836.6 2038.8 1883.0 Poland 14.30 18.98 20.67 19.60 3992 4269 4309 4332 570.9 810.3 890.7 849.1 Portugal 28.49 28.97 32.17 32.60 5542 5627 5690 5991 1578.9 1630.1 1830.5 1953.1 Sweden 33.11 34.74 31.22 31.03 7355 7710 7861 7734 2435.2 2678.5 2454.2 2399.9 Great Britain 26.13 26.09 25.57 24.60 6153 6202 6534 6705 1607.8 1618.1 1670.7 1649.4 Italy 34.23 33.85 35.45 35.80 5622 5790 5191 5226 1924.4 1959.9 1840.2 1870.9 Source: FAO [www.fao.org], *) Eurostat (2002), Milk Products (No 150/2003) and authors own calculations.
TABLE 2. Milk purchase prices, milk yield of cows and calculated value of milk produced annually by one cow in the analyzed countries in 2005 2008 Country Milk purchase price [EURO/100 kg] Milk yield of cows [kg/cow year] Value of milk per year [EURO/cow year] Years 2005 2006 2007 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008 2005 2006 2007 2008 Austria 28.8 29.95 35.95 36.56 5766 5971 6009 6066 1660.6 1788.3 2160.2 2217.7 Belgium 29.6 27.01 33.2 28.47 6375 6085 5916 6023 1887.0 1643.5 1964.1 1714.7 Denmark 28.98 28.98 34.14 35.55 8338 8336 8382 8142 2416.4 2415.7 2861.6 2894.4 Finland 35.1 34.67 37.24 48.52 7301 7650 7797 7986 2563.0 2652.2 2903.6 3874.8 France 31.2 29.43 30.68 34.89 6251 6368 6437 6431 1950.3 1874.1 1974.8 2243.7 Greece 35.78 34.96 41.31 41.96 4823 4880 5333 5129 1725.7 1706.0 2003.0 2152.1 Spain 30 29.62 34.38 38.87 6346 6573 6727 7027 1903.8 1946.9 2312.7 2731.3 Holland 31.8 27.81 35.06 32.81 7429 7619 7472 7199 2362.4 2118.8 2619.6 2361.9 Ireland 30.5 27.2 34.44 33.52 4533 4772 4871 4990 1382.5 1297.9 1677.5 1672.6 Luxemburg 33.3 30.49 38.13 38.39 6725 5782 6075 6086 2239.4 1762.9 2316.3 2336.4 Germany 27.65 26.96 34.95 30.7 6839 6895 6861 6585 1890.9 1858.8 2397.9 2021.5 Poland 25.4 25.42 31.86 27.6 4336 4539 4515 4668 1101.3 1153.8 1438.4 1288.3 Portugal 28.7 27.35 33.35 34.9 6366 6840 6732 7176 1827.0 1870.7 2245.1 2504.4 Sweden 29.4 28.45 33.68 33.85 8220 8238 8259 8196 2416.6 2343.7 2781.6 2774.3 Great Britain 28.3 25.61 30.92 29.25 6984 7161 7114 7251 1976.0 1833.9 2199.6 2120.9 Italy 34.3 31.97 35.29 38.1 5462 5965 5894 5918 1873.4 1907.0 2079.9 2254.7 Source: Eurostat, FAO, Milk Products, GUS, IERiGŻ and authors own calculations.
Analysis of effectiveness of milking robots implementation... 71 Austria Belgia Dania Finlandia Francja Grecja Hiszpania Holandia Irlandia Luksemburg Niemcy 1,94 ± 0,26 1,85 ± 0,15 1,25 ± 0,06 1,31 ± 0,07 1,70 ± 0,08 2,61 ± 0,10 2,04 ± 0,19 1,35 ± 0,07 2,42 ± 0,13 1,62 ± 0,11 1,57 ± 0,12 Polska 3,84 ± 0,84 Portugalia Szwecja W.Brytania W ochy 1,68 ± 0,17 1,17 ± 0,06 1,78 ± 0,03 1,53 ± 0,04 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Milking robot repayment period [years] FIGURE 1. Comparison of repayment period for milking robot in 1999 2002 Source: authors own calculations. it decreased by about 30% in relation to 1999 2002 period. The shortest time of robot repayment was found for Finland (Fig. 2) and it was two times shorter than in Poland. Therefore, the results of carried out calculations underline the importance of regional and economic conditions (with consideration to raw milk prices purchased by individuals or dairies) as well as biological progress that is important also (various milk yield of cows) in determination of circumstances enhancing or limiting the technological progress implementation as the milking robots. The shorten repayment period in Poland in 2005 2008 when compared to 1999 2002 is influenced also by other factors: lower investment costs for onestand milking robot, increased milk price in purchasing centres in relation to previous years, and an increase in average milk yield of cows in the country. Differences in production limitations are underlined by analysis of standard deviation index for the value (in EURO) of milk obtained annually from a single cow over considered period. The higher standard deviation values mean the lower stability of the farm income from milk selling that ensure financing of milking robot purchase.
72 M. Gaworski, M. Gocłowski Austria Belgia Dania Finlandia Francja Grecja Hiszpania Holandia Irlandia Luksemburg Niemcy Polska Portugalia Szwecja Wlk. Brytania W ochy 1,37±0,19 1,47±0,12 1,00±0,10 0,90±0,16 1,32±0,10 1,40±0,16 1,21±0,20 1,12±0,10 1,77±0,23 1,23±0,18 1,30±0,14 2,14±0,25 1,27±0,19 1,03±0,09 1,30±0,11 1,31±0,11 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 Milking robot repayment period [years] FIGURE 2. Comparison of repayment period for milking robot in 2005 2008 Source: authors own calculations. SUMMARY The analysis of economic and biological conditions for milk production in selected regions of Europe points out at importance of milk price in purchasing and milk yield of cows in the shaping of perspectives for milking robot implementation. The hitherto detailed analyses were dominated by comparisons of milk production costs connected with application of automatic milking systems against traditional technological solutions, including the milking parlours or pipeline milking plants. However, the proved differences in repayment periods for one-stand milking robot based on the incomes from milk selling calls for consideration to regional conditions of milk production. The repayment period for one-stand milking robot in 2005 2008 decreased when compared to the previous investigated period; this is a significant circumstance inspiring implementation of the modern milking technology. The future vision of a high-quality milk production in European countries is implementation and application of automatic milking systems, commonly called as milking robots. In spite of high installation costs, the European and Polish farmers more and more often decide on the automatic milking system for their farms.
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