ICAR Technical Series no. 7 - Nitra Proc.

Characterising the farms equipped with AMS• Price of the AMS and price of the equipment of the new milkingparlour: catalogue priceFrom 730 000 F to 960 000 F for a single stall AMS, 1 250 000 F for a twostall AMS and 1 500 000 for a three stall AMS of the Prolion concept,1 350 000 for two AMS of the Lely concept.250 000 F for a milking parlour 2 x 6 (herds with fewer than 80 cows)and 350 000 F for a 2 x 10 (herds with more than 80 cows). Each time weenvisaged a milking parlour without options and a milking parlourwith all options in order to obtain, as far as possible, the sameinformation as with the AMS.• Work on the buildingThe only difference calculated was the size of the milking block.• Depreciation (linear) and reimbursement of loanIt is difficult today to predict how long an AMS will last (rapidity oftechnological progress, second-hand market?). Two cases will bestudied: the depreciation period and reimbursement over 7 years, anda long period of 10 years.The interest rate on the loans is 6% for an investment financed 100% bythe loan.• Milk production level of the cowsIn the case of a milking parlour, no modification in milk production isenvisaged. We will study three hypotheses in the case of the AMS: noincrease in milk production, a 5% increase and a 10% increase. The landareas used for fodder production which will be left free will be used forcash crops.• Costs linked to milk production and the selling price of milk andanimalsThe costs of milk production depending on the level of production ofthe cows, the prices of milk and animals are the average prices in 1999of milk producers’ groups monitored in ECOLAIT by the BTPL(766 farmers throughout France). The selling price of milk produced bythe AMS is penalised by two centimes to take into account the risklinked to butyric spores.• Operating costs, hygiene costs and maintenance costsThe cost of maintenance retained is the cost announced by themanufacturers. However, as there was no reference concerningoperating and hygiene costs of the AMS, we retained almost doublethat of a milking parlour since it would seem that the AMS consumesmore energy (Artmann and Bohlsen, 2000) and cleaning products.146Conference on "Physiological and technicalaspects of machine milking"