Robotic Milking of the Dairy Herd

The most remarkable thing about the farm where the Canadian Foodgrains Bank celebration was held was the robotic milking machine for the dairy herd.  I had heard of this in the area, but had never seen it in action.

There were lots of cows around that you could say hello to.  Notice the tag hanging around her neck.  All of these cows are electronically linked to computer records of what they eat and the milk they produce, so every cow is tracked individually, standard practice on dairy farms these days.

This farm has a moderate sized herd, about 60 cows, all Holsteins.

These two were in the milking parlour, waiting their turn for milking.

And this is the magic, very expensive machine, developed in the Netherlands.  Cows enter it at the right hand side, when the gate swings open after the last cow leaves.  They get a little treat for encouragement (obviously an important part of getting the cow to enter the machine regularly), and the computer sensor records which cow it is, when it was last milked, and so on.  When it's finished the gate on the left side opens and the cow leaves, opening the right hand gate for the next cow.  The machine does everything; the cow just walks through.

This is the machine from the other side, where you can't see much to be honest.  But the vertical stainless steel pipe in the middle is the working part of the machine, now extended under the cow, with the milking cups attached to the teats.  This machine is capable of sensing precisely where each teat is, washing them, and then attaching, and later removing the milking cups.  While this is going on the computer screen shows the data being recorded, including milk production, average production, number of times milked today, and so on.  This machine can handle a herd of about 60, given each cow coming through 2-3 times per day.

There are disadvantages to this system, especially the cost, but the savings in labour, the increase in comfort for the cows, and the improved monitoring of individual cows are all big advantages.  The farmer doesn't even have to be in the barn; the machine will call you if there's a problem.  The cows (in most setups) can enter whenever they wish, so the number of times they're milked usually goes up a little, leaving them more comfortable.  And the detailed records of each cow means that you can tell immediately if a particular cow is not producing as she usually does, usually a sign of a problem worth checking.  The health of the herd can be improved as a result.

I was really impressed with how well this works, and particularly interested in the benefits for the cows themselves.  Farming keeps changing!