Methodology for determining the effectiveness of using a feed booster robot on dairy farms

Abstract

This article analyzes scientific publications that reveal the issues of evaluating the economic efficiency of technical devices (robots) for pushing (pushing) feed on dairy farms of cattle using the example of the SFB device developed at Novosibirsk State Agrarian University. The relevance of the study is due to the lack of any methodology in this area to date. The paper uses a two-stage methodological approach, including the consistent use of analytical and computational and constructive tools, as well as a scenario approach with the allocation of an optimistic, basic and pessimistic scenario. As a result, the author’s methodology for evaluating technical devices of this type is justified, which allows taking into account the specifics of the agro-industrial complex of specific regions and including such structural elements as revenue growth due to an increase in dairy productivity of cattle with a simultaneous increase in the cost of additional feed, the cost of equipping dairy farms with push robots, electricity costs and depreciation charges. As a result of the study, it was found that it is economically feasible to use these technical means with an increase in dairy productivity of cattle of at least 10%, while in an optimistic scenario, the revenue growth of cattle farms may be about 16%, in a basic scenario – about 6%, in a pessimistic scenario, the introduction of such devices is economically impractical.