What are the most commonly used milking systems?
And how many dairy farmers want to invest in milking robots or feeding robots?
In this article, we conveniently list the key figures. The figures come from AgriDirect’s current telephone market survey.
Survey of over 2,500 dairy farmers
AgriDirect is currently conducting the annual telephone update among dairy farmers. During this update, questions are asked about automation in the barn. Over 2,500 Dutch dairy farmers have now participated in the survey.
Current use of milking systems
When asked which milking system they currently use, the herringbone milking parlour comes up as the most frequently mentioned. Over 34% of dairy farmers work with this. The milking robot is in second place with 28%. This is followed by:
- Side-by-side parlour (17.5%)
- Carousel milking parlour (5.7%)
- Swing-over parlour (2.5%)
This distribution shows that while milking robots are now widely adopted, traditional milking systems such as the herringbone parlour are still the most widely used.
Plans for investment in milking systems
Of all dairy farmers surveyed, 8.6% said they would invest in a new milking system or renovation of the current system in the foreseeable future.
Of this group, over 64% say they are considering a milking robot. In addition, 11% plan to invest in a side-by-side barn. About 7% want to renovate a herringbone barn. 10% do not yet know exactly which system they want to invest in.
Interestingly, more than a quarter of these investment-ready dairy farmers want to do so in the relatively short term: namely, in the second half of 2022 or the first half of 2023.
Use and interest in automatic feeding technology
Besides milking systems, other forms of automation in the barn were also asked. Currently, 6% use a self-propelled feed mixer and 3% a feed attachment robot. Furthermore, there is interest in investing in:
- A feed docking robot (3.3%)
- A feed mixer (3.5%), of which 20% choose a self-propelled variant
- A fattening robot (6.1%)
These figures show that dairy farmers are not only looking at milking more efficiently, but also at feed system automation and manure handling.
