RT Journal Article
T1 Typologies of Dairy Farms with Automatic Milking System in Northwest Spain and Farmers’ Satisfaction
A1 Castro Ramos, Ángel
A1 Pereira González, José Manuel
A1 Amiama Ares, Carlos
A1 Bueno Lema, Javier
K1 Automatic milking system
K1 Farm structure
K1 Farm typology
K1 Farmer satisfaction
AB 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.
PB Taylor & Francis
SN 1594-4077
YR 2015
FD 2015
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21832
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21832
LA eng
NO Ángel Castro, José M. Pereira, Carlos Amiama and Javier Bueno (2015). Typologies of Dairy Farms with Automatic Milking System in Northwest Spain and Farmers’ Satisfaction, Italian Journal of Animal Science, 14:2, 3559, DOI: 10.4081/ijas.2015.3559
NO The  authors  are  grateful  for the financial support granted by the Autonomous Government  of  Galicia  through  the  Directorate General   for   Research   &   Development (PGIDT/PGIDIT  Project,  Ref:  07MRU013291PR)
DS Minerva
RD 3 may 2026