Comparative analysis of some investment costs for free rearing of female breeding calves

Abstract

With varying capacities for dairy cattle breeding farms, this study aims to compare and analyze investment
costs for building construction and technological equipment with various methods for free rearing female
breeding calves. The ultimate goal is to determine the most economical and practically recommended
solutions. This study compares eight different technological variations for freestall rearing of female calves
and heifers in farms with forty, sixty, eighty, or one hundred cows. Four of these variations involve buildings
with group cubicles on a sloping floor, designed for calves between three and eighteen months old, and four
of these variations involve buildings with group cubicles on straw bedding, designed for heifers. Compared
to buildings with group cubicles on straw bedding, the variants with a sloping floor for calves and a butterfly
landing for heifers are more cost-effective in terms of relative construction costs of the load bearing and
fencing structures and total construction costs, while the floor profile variants are more capital-intensive. This
is true even though the farm capacity remains the same. The relative construction cost of the technological
profile drops from 299 to 203 BGN/st.pl. (up to 47.3%), the relative construction cost of the load bearing and
fencing structures drops from 1388 to 832 BGN/st.pl. (up to 66.8%), and the relative total construction cost
drops from 1650 BGN/st.pl. to 1080 BGN/st.pl. (up to 52.8%) when the farm capacity is increased from 40
to 100 cows. The most cost-effective option, according to relative construction costs of the buildings' loadbearing and fencing structures (up to 66.7 percent) and total construction costs (up to 52.8 percent), is the one
with group cubicles on a sloping floor for calves and Butterfly landing for heifers on a farm that can
accommodate 100 cows. Based on the relative construction cost of the floor profile, the version with group
cubicles on straw bedding on a farm with a capacity for 100 cows is up to 47.3% more inexpensive than the
other options