Increased Cattle Feeding Precision from Automatic Feeding Systems: Considerations on Technology Spread and Farm Level Perceived Advantages in Italy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Livestock farming is experiencing growing levels of automation due to the high number of repetitive tasks requiring little skill and high workloads. Automatic feeding systems for ruminants represent a valuable option for farmers to reduce their daily workload and increase animal welfare and production quality. The farmers’ perspective matched the outcome of the studies on the benefits of automatic feeding system adoption (lower energy requirements, lower feed waste, and increased animal welfare). However, such benefits only exist if thorough economic and structural planning considers all of the farming site’s features to exploit the feeding robots’ flexibility at its best. We suggest that automatic feeding systems may be fundamental to the involvement of younger generations in animal farming and increasing the inclusivity of such an activity with the subsequent fostering of female entrepreneurship, always complying with good feeding practices. ABSTRACT: Automation reduces the impact of farming on climate change and helps farmers adapt to its financial impact. Automatic feeding systems (AFSs) increase the ruminant’s feeding precision and ease operators’ workload. Such systems exist on a spectrum, requiring varied levels of operator support and installation complexity. A recent survey on farmers pointed out that those already running an AFS and those willing to buy one appreciate its ease of use, the resulting animal welfare, and the resulting overall benefits (increased production, farm profitability, and reduced feed waste). Whether technologically complex or not, studies have confirmed the benefits that farmers perceive to be underlying the remarkable reduction in the environmental impact of feeding operations (AFSs are electrically powered), the increase in animal welfare resulting from reduced conflicts around accessing the feed bunk, and the constant availability of fresh feed. However, their introduction should follow accurate and holistic structural and economic planning for existing and newly built facilities. The availability of public subsidies plays an essential role in pushing farmers to adopt the most modern digital technologies, whose benefits may even increase when farmers couple them with interconnected sensors to monitor animals’ physiological states.