This study evaluates the impact of introducing milking robots on expansion of scale and elimination of overwork in family-owned dairy farms. While previous studies in Europe suggest that introducing milking robots not only ensures flexibility and reduction in working hours and eliminates overwork, it also has the potential to expand self-supplied feed production, similar studies in Japan have pointed to a reduction of required labor countered by higher depreciation which reduce profits. The modernization of dairy farming policy, which took effect in March 2020, emphasizes not only high-performance technologies but also boosting self-supplied feed production and manure treatment. Evaluating the impact of milking robots on scale expansion and overwork elimination while also taking into account the relationship between milking robots and self-supplied feed production and manure treatment, we confirmed that as milking robots eliminate overwork, dairy farmers can not only concentrate on rearing management but also increasing self-supplied feed production. We conclude that it is essential to clarify the role of milking robots in the entire operation system, including manure handling and self-supplied feed production, as well as to farming management common to all dairy farms, rather than just positioning them as a labor-saving system.
