Milking Automation Market Size, Share Analysis

Updated on : Oct 23, 2024

The global milking automation market size is estimated to be USD 1.0 Billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 1.5 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period.

Some of the major factors contributing to the growth of market includes reduced labor costs due to automation in dairy farms, rising farm consolidation with increasing average herd size, government policies and incentive programs supporting livestock farm mechanization, and increasing demand for quality dairy products.

Milking Automation Market Forecast to 2027

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Milking Automation Market Dynamics

Drivers: Rising adoption of automated milking equipment owing to increasing average herd size

The consolidation of dairy farms, mainly in developed regions, has driven the adoption of milking automation solutions. The increasing average herd size of dairy cows, particularly in countries such as the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and the US, has led to the installation of a large number of milking points and the integration of additional electronic components, such as milk analyzers, sensors, and smart pulsators, on dairy farms.

In most advanced dairy-producing regions, the increase in average herd size and difficulty retaining staff have threatened the industry's long-term viability. These issues are resolved by adopting technologically advanced milking equipment and the automation of milking parlors.

In the last decade, the number of dairy farms has reduced significantly owing to the increased average herd size, and the milk yield per cow has increased due to the adoption of automated solutions. According to Dairy Australia, the number of dairy farms declined by approximately 57% between 2002 and 2021. However, during this period, the average milking herd size increased by almost 50%, that is, from around 200 heads to 295 heads.

With the increasing herd size, managing milking operations manually has become extremely difficult. Dairy farmers increasingly use automation and electronic milk meters to reduce labor requirements and improve milking management. Automating milking operations can replace repetitive tasks, improve measurement accuracy and frequency, and enable better farm decisions.

The use of milking automation devices, such as smart milk meters, pulsators, and milk point controllers, can maximize herd performance and milking productivity, maintain the health and well-being of farm animals, reduce labor costs, and ensure high profitability and sustainability.

Restraints: Availability of plant-based alternative products for dairy milk

Dairy milk production has raised concerns about animal welfare and the environment, which is driving consumers to seek alternatives. This will hamper global dairy milk production, thereby impeding the growth of the milking automation industry.

According to Univar Solutions (US), in 2020, the demand for plant-based milk is growing by more than 10% yearly, while dairy milk is growing at a rate of 3% annually. Plant, grain, and nut milk currently comprise over 10% of the total milk market. Milk substitutes have already seized market share and now make up 13% of retail milk sales in the US, in which almond milk has the greatest share among the substitutes.

Several factors including nutritional values, lactose intolerance, milk allergies, and taste and environmental impact encourage consumers to look for substitutes. Compared to cow's milk, plant-based milk often has lower calorie and saturated fat levels while offering similar nutritional advantages. Plant milk is an excellent alternative for anyone with milk allergies or lactose intolerance. The success of the American dairy milk category is threatened by consumers' declining dairy milk intake.

Opportunities: Gradual transition of small- and medium-scale dairy farms from manual milking to mechanized milking solutions

The adoption rate of milking automation systems in developing countries is relatively low, mainly due to high installation costs and limited awareness among farmers about the benefits of milking automation systems.

However, the growing demand for milk and dairy products, increasing per capita income of farmers in developing countries, rising herd size, and growing focus of governments on dairy farming and agriculture industries are expected to create a surge in demand for advanced milking solutions in developing countries in the coming years.

Governments of different developing countries have facilitated the integration of AI, robotics, and IoT technologies with conventional milking systems and are running various initiatives to promote the adoption of automated milking solutions, creating growth opportunities for market players in the region. For instance, governments of countries such as Indonesia, South Korea, India, and Columbia support dairy farmers by providing incentives and subsidies for automating their dairy farms.

Challenges: Lack of skills and limited understanding of technology among farmers in developing regions

The limited awareness about the benefits of milking automation solutions among farmers is expected to significantly impede market growth. Due to the lack of skills required to handle large volumes of data and use advanced and sophisticated tools in farmers, milking automation solutions are adopted very slowly in many regions globally.

Other factors hamper milking solutions adoption in dairy farms are the high cost involved in automating farms, the lack of technical knowledge, and reluctance toward using new technology owing to limited skillset and understanding. In addition, since the milking system operates 24/7, technical support is essential.

Due to breakdowns during milking activity, the herd and delicate sensors are at risk of being damaged, incurring additional repair costs. Market players are likely to witness this challenge for a considerable period owing to the poor economic condition of many countries and the lack of infrastructure and awareness about the benefits of automated milking equipment.

Dairy cattle segment continues to hold largest share for milking automation market during the forecast period

The dairy cattle will lead the market during the forecast period. When compared with other dairy animals, cattle have several advantages, including ease of milking, large udder size, higher ability to store milk, and milk yield. Because of these advantages, majority of the dairy farmers prefer dairy cattle over other milking animals, as a result, most companies in the market design milking systems specialized for dairy cattle only.

The world's milk production is dominated by cattle milk. India, Brazil, China, and Pakistan are the four countries with the most dairy cattle, and the United States and India produce the most cow milk. There is a decline in cow milk production in developed countries, along with a decrease in dairy operations and animals, but productivity per cow is increasing.

In developing countries, both the number and production of lactating cows are on the rise, but their animals have lower milk yields and shorter lactation periods. Climate (high ambient temperature, humidity), low-quality feed, low levels of nutritional supplement intake, the low genetic potential for milk production in multipurpose animals (used for both milking and farming), as well as high disease incidences are just a few of the factors contributing to poor animal performance in small-scale dairy systems in developing countries.

Hardware segment to account for the largest market share of milking automation market between 2022 and 2027

Based on offering, the market has been segmented into hardware, software, and services. The hardware segment has been further subsegmented into milk meters, milking clusters milk point controllers, pulsators, smart feeding robots (TMR/PMR-based feeding robots), smart camera-based facial recognition systems (biometric ID), and other hardware components such as automated weighing, and sorting systems.

Milking automation solutions are increasingly being adopted as automated hardware and systems are becoming more popular. Dairy farms across the world are increasingly installing mechanized milking solutions such as pipeline milking systems and milking machines on dairy parlors. With the help of milking automation hardware components such as milk meters, pulsators, milking clusters, milk point controllers, milk analyzers, and sensors, dairy farm owners can reduce labor costs and increase milk yield per ruminant. Moreover, the increasing awareness about the quality of milk is expected to fuel the demand for milk metering solutions for dairy farming during the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is likely to be the fastest growing market between 2022 and 2027.

Milking Automation Market by Region

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Source: FAOstat, the Korea Dairy Beef Cattle Association, Asia-Pacific Dairy Association (APDA), Japan Dairy Industry Association, Interviews with Experts, Secondary Research, and MarketsandMarkets Analysis

Asia Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth rate for milking automation market during the forecast period. Rapid economic growth and surging demand for milk in countries such as China, India, Malaysia, Japan, and Singapore are expected to drive market growth in the region.

This increased demand for milk products has triggered the adoption of automated milking systems on dairy farms in this region. Furthermore, automated milking rotaries (AMRs) reduce the amount of manual labor required in the milking process on dairy farms, thereby reducing labor costs. With rapid industrialization, milk consumers are becoming aware of the quality and the type of dairy products they are consuming. Hence, dairy farm owners are adopting automated milking systems for increasing production to meet the growing demand for milk.

Key Market Players in Milking Automation Market

Major milking automation companies are DeLaval (Sweden), Afimilk Ltd. (Israel), GEA Group (Germany), Nedap N.V. (Netherlands), and Allflex Livestock Intelligence (US).

Milking Automation Market Report Scope

Milking Automation Market Highlights

This research report categorizes the market, by offering, farm size, species, and region available at the regional and global level

Recent Developments in Milking Automation Industry

• In August 2022, DeLaval launched the E-series rotary milking system to meet the needs of North American dairy producers. The E300 and E500 models are equipped with new-generation rotary systems.
• In October 2021, BouMatic acquired SAC Group. The acquisition enabled BouMatic to strengthen its market and enhance its product portfolio related to milking solutions.
• In July 2021, GEA Group launched the newer versions of the DairyRobot R9500 milking robot and the DairyProQ automatic milking system. Adopting these solutions facilitates an increased number of milking cycles and reduces costs by up to 35%.
• In May 2021, Nedap N.V. partnered with Waikato to develop and manufacture advanced dairy products. Waikato provides integrated identification, monitoring, and automation solutions through its smart CowTraQ collars and TracHQ platform driven by Nedap’s integrated platform.
• In July 2020, DeLaval acquired milkrite | InterPuls from Avon Rubber to improve its milking point product portfolio for dairy farms.

Key Questions Addressed by the Report

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