Dairy Herd Management Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product Type, By End User (Small-scale, Large-scale, Cooperative Farms), By Region, Competitive Landscape, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025

Report Overview

The global dairy herd management market size was valued at USD 2.4 billion in 2018, expanding at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2019 to 2025. Increasing demand for milk and milk products such as cream, butter, and cheese is anticipated to boost the market over the forecast period. Apart from this, long-term operational cost benefits associated with herd management solutions are expected to augment market growth. These systems assist in maintaining the health of the livestock by keeping track of feeding habits, environment control, diseases encountered, and behavior of the livestock.

Managing a herd is a labor-intensive process and costs of labor are quite high, which adds up to the operational cost of any livestock owner. However, in recent times, several advanced products such as milking robots, feeding management systems, and waste management systems have made their way into the market and made cattle management possible with minimal human intervention. For example, several machines utilized in performing daily activities such as milking or feeding cattle are now performed with the help of herd management techniques.

Datafication in dairy farms provides farmers with quantifiable information to continuously inspect and respond to farm operations and livestock behavior, positively contributing to improving farm efficiency and profitability. Herd management is becoming increasingly prevalent and has indicated the beginning of a broader trend in dairy operation automation and livestock management. Dairy companies are taking advantage of this trend, adding value to herd management for use in a variety of applications related to cattle and livestock management. Automated milking parlors, smartphone data applications, micro-sensor technology, and robotics are all likely to become commonplace on dairy farms over the next few years. In the long term, growth in productivity becomes a necessity for the survival of a dairy farm. When the price of milk is low, farmers need to exercise even tighter controls on production costs to maximize returns from fixed factors of production such as electricity. The application of automated technologies is a growing trend in the dairy industry and plays a crucial role in the prospects of this market. The automatic systems most commonly used in this industry include automatic identification, milking, detection of estrus, feeding, detection of births, and other farm operations. The adoption of these systems has significantly reduced labor demand and increased the productivity of dairy farms.

Innovation and proliferation of dairy equipment are anticipated to serve as key drivers for market growth. As a result, with growing installation and mass productivity of related products such as sensors and integrated circuits, the price of dairy herd management solutions is expected to dip soon. Moreover, government initiatives, funds/grants, venture capital investments, and enhancement of complementary technologies are expected to impact the market positively. However, high cost associated with dairy herd management is anticipated to hinder its adoption among small- and medium-sized farms, especially in developing countries such as Brazil and India.

Product Insights

The milk management system segment captured the dominant market share in 2018 and is expected to witness considerable growth during the forecast period. This is because milking is one of the major labor intensives operations, and the installation of milk management systems has significantly reduced labor hours. When the milking unit is no longer a barrier to improving throughput, further improvement can only be achieved by automation and replacing elements of the operators’ work routine, thereby making the job less physically demanding and more efficient. Installing more milking units in large dairies is unlikely to result in the efficiency gains of the dairy farms.

Herd management software is an integrated system that is used to replace the manual labor required for operations such as fixed milking duration, waste management, and monitoring and inspection operations so that manual labor worktime can be spent elsewhere. This reduction in labor and improvement in operational efficiency is thereby improving the quality of life of farmers. Reduced labor demands, leading to higher profit margin and greater personal time, is also improving their standard of living.

End-user Insights

Large-scale dairy farms are expected to be the major revenue contributors to the global dairy herd management market based on the end-user. This larger share can be attributed to the ability of large-scale farms to deploy dairy herd management software as they have ample finances available with them. On average, large-scale dairy farms generate returns that well exceed their full operational costs.

At the same time, small-scale farms generally incur economic losses and their production value does not exceed full costs, including time cost and cost of capital committed by their owners. Large farms, on average, incur much lower costs than small-scale ones and these benefits accrue across a wide range of herd size until the economies of scale remain intact. It has been observed that owing to the adoption of dairy herd management systems, the price per ton of milk dropped with an expansion in herd size. For instance, an increase in the size of herd from less than 50 to a herd size of 500 is anticipated to reduce the operational cost by half. The cost is likely to continue to fall with expanding herd sizes, thereby decreasing the price of milk.

The cooperative dairy farms segment is expected to exhibit the fastest growth over the forecast period. Cooperatives farms benefit from the use of dairy herd management solutions by providing economies of scale, which helps lower production costs for individual farms. Lower production costs can be passed along to consumers too, which helps small farms compete on pricing against their larger rivals/large-scale farms.

Regional Insights

An increasing number of dairy farms and rising labor costs have helped drive the adoption of dairy herd management solutions in several European and North American countries. Advantages such as a reduction in labor cost and increasing operational efficiency of the dairy farms have also led to the wide adoption of dairy herd management solutions in agriculture-based economies such as China, Brazil, Japan, and India. Implementing dairy herd management solutions over the last few years was considered challenging as it requires careful installation. However, in recent years, awareness about the adoption of dairy systems has increased with growing practical experience.

In 2018, Europe accounted for just over 30.0% of the total market revenue, followed by North America. This growth is attributed to increasing awareness regarding automation among dairy farm owners, leading to high adoption of solutions such as milk management systems and nutrition management systems.

Government arbitration plays a major role in regulating market growth. Governments in key dairy-producing countries such as China, India, and Brazil monitor the pricing structure and provide subsidies on automation installation to increase productivity. Moreover, growing awareness among farmers related to automation of dairy farm operations is a major driving factor in the Asia Pacific and Latin American markets.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

Major players operating in the market include Alta Genetics Inc.; Dairymaster; Delaval Inc.; Afimilk; BouMatic LLC; Fullwood Packo; GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft; Lely; SCR Dairy Inc.; Sum-it Computer Systems; Valley Agricultural Software; and Zoetis. To capture a larger market share, key market incumbents are undertaking initiatives and adopting strategies such as entering into partnerships, engaging in mergers and acquisitions, and maintaining competitive pricing.

In February 2016, Afimilk Ltd., which is into the manufacturing, research and development, and sales and marketing of advanced automation systems for modern dairy farms and herd management solutions, acquired Silent Herdsman. The latter, a U.K.-based private venture capital-funded company, was engaged in developing neck-collar monitoring systems used to detect estrus and health problems in dairy cows. This acquisition helped the former company expand its market share and product portfolio in the market for dairy herd management solutions.

In November 2012, GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft acquired Milfos International Ltd. While the former company is into manufacturing mechanical equipment, technology related to the farming industry, and refrigeration, the latter is focused on researching, designing, and manufacturing electronics, plastics, and mild steel products for milking, snap chilling, and heat recovery systems. This acquisition was aimed at helping GEA diversify its product portfolio and strengthen its position in the dairy industry.

Dairy Herd Management Market Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional, and country levels and provides an analysis of the latest industry trends from 2014 to 2025 for each of the sub-segments. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global dairy herd management market report based on product type, end-user, and region:

• Product Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2014 - 2025)

  • Milk management systems

  • Feeding/Nutrition management systems

  • Animal waste management systems

  • Breeding Management

  • Others

• End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2014 - 2025)

  • Small-scale dairy farms

  • Large-scale dairy farms

  • Cooperative dairy farms

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2014 - 2025)

  • North America

    • The U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • U.K.

    • Germany

    • France

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • India

    • Japan

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

    • Mexico

  • Middle East & Africa