Typologies of dairy farms with automatic milking system in northwest Spain and farmers’ satisfaction

• Main Authors: Ángel Castro, José M. Pereira, Carlos Amiama, Javier Bueno
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2015-05-01
• Series: Italian Journal of Animal Science
• Subjects: Automatic milking system; Farm structure; Farm typology; Farmer satisfaction
• Online Access: http://www.aspajournal.it/index.php/ijas/article/view/3559
• ISSN: 1594-4077; 1828-051X

The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of the dairy farms that installed an automatic milking system (AMS). A survey of 38 dairy farms with AMS, in Galicia (Spain), collected information on quantitative and qualitative variables. Following elimination of redundant variables, categorical principal component analysis identified 4 factors accounting for 43.7% of the total variance. Using these factors, the farms studied were subjected to hierarchical cluster analysis which differentiated 4 types of farms: (A) farms with more leisure and quality of life where the AMS covered the expectations of farmers (29%); (B) farms that removed cows more often due to AMS and farmers with more stress (34%); (C) farms with little leisure and farmers with no successor (21%); (D) large farms with many fulltime employees (FTE) where the AMS had covered farmer’s expectations the least (11%). Generally the farms were based on a family structure with a high percentage of FTE. With the adoption of AMS these farms sought to increase milk production, save labour and have more flexibility. With 87% of farms with free cow traffic the activity that took the most of the farmer’s time was fetching cows for milking (1 h/day). Nearly 58% of farmers were completely satisfied with their AMS, although this value reached 91% in farms with herd sizes below the average which were better adapted to the use of one AMS.