Investing in Robotic Milking System: A Monte Carlo Simulation Analysis

摘要

This paper uses Monte Carlo simulation methods to estimate the breakeven value for a robotic milking sys- tem (RMS) on a dairy farm in the United States. The breakeven value indicates the maximum amount that could be paid for the robots given the costs of alternative milking equipment and other important factors (e.g., milk yields, prices, length of useful life of technologies). The analysis simulates several scenarios under three Herd sizes, 60 , 120, and 180 cows. The base-case results Indicate that the mean breakeven values are $ 192,056, $374,538, and $553,671 for each of the three progres- sively larger herd sizes.