Automatic Milking Systems KPI project
NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has committed to increase the awareness and successful adoption of Automatic Milking Systems (AMS) in Australia.
Providing the industry with access to adequate and contextual information will enable farmers and service providers to make informed decisions.
AMS farms nominated themselves to be monitored on a monthly basis for a 12 month period. Information about milk production, AMS utilisation and farm demographics will assist in the understanding of how AMS farms perform over a 12 month period.
Although participating farms will remain anonymous, results from the project will provide the industry with a better understanding of what is achievable under AMS operation.
In addition to the key performance indicators (KPIs) reported in this project, AMS farmers will still monitor the traditional KPIs related to things such as health or reproductive management. However, the aim of this project is to report variables that are specific to this type of operation. They should not be analysed in isolation as they are generally interrelated.
Methodology
AMS farmers have agreed to share monthly KPIs for benchmarking purposes, to be extracted from the herd management software. These farmers volunteered to participate in the project and were not selected based on established performance.
Before the 5th of every month, every participating farmer receives a preliminary individual farm report pertaining to the previous month. Although this is not a full farm consultancy report, it might help the AMS farmers to identify certain areas within their own operation that could be addressed to benefit the productivity of their farm.
The comparative report between farms is then made available to the wider dairy industry around the 10th of every month.
The farmer will be providing the industry with key information of what is achievable under commercial conditions. This may assist non-AMS farmers, who are considering investing in this technology, to make more informed decisions.
