The Annual Maintenance Costs of Draft Horses as a Part of Fixed Costs in Horse-Powered Agriculture: A Case Study from Požega, Croatia

Abstract

The aim of this research is to estimate the fixed costs of the maintenance of draft horses in a low-input farm. Research has revealed that in the investigated case, the fixed costs of maintenance of three draft mares were EUR 5115.39 annually, with human working hours having the greatest share of 73.6%. Income from sales of foals partially offsets the total fixed costs, thus virtually lowering the costs to the level of EUR 1215.39 annually. At the investigated farm (operating on 1.3 ha of arable field crops), the fixed costs per worked arable area were very high, amounting 934.92 EUR/ha, mainly because of little total arable area worked. The theoretical capacity of horse-powered farming with three mares historically was 15 ha, and at such an area, the fixed costs per hectare would fall to the acceptable level of 81 EUR/ha. However, the acceptance of horse-powered farming could face much hesitance, mainly because it is a labor-intensive way of farming, far from the attitudes of modern people. Personal inner transformation might help make this option more attractive.

Keywords

• low-input farming
• animal work
• fixed costs
• personal inner transformation