Bostad, Elise
- Department of Rural Buildings and Animal Husbandry [LBT], Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Labour input was investigated on 100 Swedish young bull farms, 42% of all farms rearing 101 - 960 bulls annually in 2007. Work time studies were performed through questionnaires, supplemented by field studies on a smaller set of farms. Young bulls were of dairy or beef breed bought from age 7 to 365 days by specialized producers and finished to the average age of 17 (dairy breed) and 16 months (beef breed), respectively, and carcass weight 300 and 330 kg. Farms with different models of finishing, depending on the calf’s age of purchase were categorized in four groups as: 1) pre-weaned, 7-61 days purchase age (PW), 2) weaned, 56-92 days purchase age (W1), 3) weaned, 107-168 days purchase age (W2) and 4) weaned, 180- 365 days purchase age (W3). Total median labour input per bull for pre-defined work tasks was 6.4, 7.1, 4.0 and 2.7 hours, respectively, for the four different finishing models. Correspondingly, labour efficiency on the four models resulted in 0.76, 0.94, 0.64 and 0.69 min/bull/day, respectively, revealing no difference in labour efficiency in farms rearing calves pre-weaned (PW) or weaned from 2-3 months of age (W1). No differences were found in daily labour efficiency (min/calf/day) within the quarantine house sections, finishing or the nondaily tasks common for both house sections. Effect of unit size on total labour input per bull tended to increase as farm unit size increased from 200 to 350 young bulls annually, however a clear effect of unit size was first seen on farms finishing 600 bulls per year (r=-0,4). Relatively large variations between the 25% most and 25% least efficient farms indicate a need of awareness in possible underestimation of work time, and prospects of possibilities for future development of labour patterns and increase in labour efficiency
Keywords
calf; beef cattle; work time; work efficiency; questionnaire
Published in
Publisher: CIGR
Conference
XXXIV CIOSTA CIGR V Conference 2011 - Efficient and Safe Production Processes in Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry
SLU Authors
Swensson, Christian
- Department of Rural Buildings and Animal Husbandry [LBT], Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Rural Buildings and Animal Husbandry [LBT], Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Pinzke, Stefan
- Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Veterinary Science
Animal and Dairy Science
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/35115