Cheap construction = better construction?

No, more expensive investments make sense, when they are counterbalanced through additional benefits.
Decisive is building a stable as inexpensively as possible, where work efficiency and enjoyment can be increased and operational sequences optimized.
Savings in the wrong place can result in insufficient cow comfort and a sinking yield, as well as an unnecessarily high work load!

The benefits additional investments must provide:

Depreciation/financing time		200 €/cow		350 €/cow		500 €/cow
Depreciation/financing time		8 years	15 years	8 years	15 years	8 years	15 years
Additional costs	per cow/year¹⁾	36.00 €	24.33 €	63.00 €	42.58 €	90.00 €	60.83 €
Additional costs	per kg milk²⁾	0.40 ct/kg	0.27 ct/kg	0.70 ct/kg	0.47 ct/kg	1.00 ct/kg	0.68 ct/kg
Working time reduction	man hour/ cow*year³⁾	2.40 Akh	1.62 Akh	4.20 Akh	2.84 Akh	6.00 Akh	4.06 Akh
Working time reduction	sec/cow*day³⁾	24 sec.	16 sec.	42 sec.	28 sec.	60 sec.	40 sec.
Needed increase in milk yield⁴⁾		240 kg	163 kg	420 kg	284 kg	600 kg	406 kg
Reduction in mastitis rate⁵⁾		8.0 %	5.5 %	14.0 %	9.5 %	20.0 %	13.6 %
Reduction in replacement rate⁶⁾		4.3 %	2.9 %	7.5 %	5.1 %	10.6 %	7.2 %
Reduction in concentrate feed⁷⁾		1.44 dt	0.97 dt	2.52 dt	1.70 dt	3.60 dt	2.43 dt

depreciation, financing costs (5 percent interest) and maintenance costs (3 percent p.a.)
at 9000 kg milk yield p.a.
15 Euro/man hour wage estimate or costs
0.15 Euro/kg marginal benefit per additional kg of milk
clinical mastitis costs 450 Euro on the average
850 Euro net replacement costs per animal (1,500 Euro costs per heifer – 650 Euro proceeds per cow culled)
25 Euro/dt concentrate feed

Source: DLZ, 8/2009, „Wie geil ist Geiz?“

(note: data of increase and reduction rates refer to one year)

KRAIBURG example: potential additional benefits through soft mats:

Savings in maintaining cubicles (compared to straw manure mattress)	about 365 kg litter per cubicle and year (1) about 170 man-minutes per cow and year for cubicle maintenance (2)
Increased milk yield	1.5 kg more milk per cow and day through soft lying areas (*3)
Cost savings through shortening the intercalving period from 99 to 60 days on soft walking areas (*4)	Each return to oestrus costs 100 € (*5) on the average
Reducing the risk of lameness through soft lying and walking areas	Estimates on the costs of claw diseases are between Ø € 302 and € 330 per case! (treatment expenses + follow-up costs) (*6)

Sources:
*1 calculations made by KTBL 2008/09
*2 Heidenreich Thomas, Vortrag an der Lfl Sachsen, Köllitsch, Deutschland 2007
*3 information by Versuchsgut Köllitsch, Lfl Sachsen, 1999
*4 Kremer et al. „Reproduction traits in dairy cows on elastic or concrete flooring“, Oberschleißheim, Deutschland, 2006
*5 Gabriele Arndt, Allgäuer Bauernblatt 12/ 1999
*6 Dr. Gerhard Wittkowski „Hohe Milchleistung? Nur mit gesunden Klauen!“ Milchpur 3/2007

Conclusion: a cheap construction can be expensive year after year!

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