Holy Cow!



The cow peaking under the milker for her picture to
be taken.  Notice her id tag around her neck.

A few weeks ago at the Farm Women’s Symposium I had the chance to tour a robotic dairy farm.  I had never seen anything like this and thought it was very interesting!  This particular family dairy farm had a fire in 2001 and had always talked about having robotic milkers one day, and knew that having to rebuild after the fire meant it was time for that change. 



Each cow gets automatically logged
in the computer.

There are about 200 cows milked on the farm.  The cows decide when they want to be milked, and go at their own will into 1 of the 4 milkers on the farm.  Then the process can begin.  Upon entering the milker a neck identification tag is scanned.  That allows detailed information to be logged each time the cow is in to be milked.  Information such as: date, time, milk production, temperature of each quarter of the udder, etc.  All of this information is important for the farm owners to monitor for any changes or problems the cows may be experiencing.  The computer will also notify the farm owner if a cow doesn’t get up to be milked often enough, so they can check on her. 

Teats being scrubbed prior to milking.

The cows are given a sweet treat while standing in the robotic milker.  Her teats are gently scrubbed.  Then a scanner, that reminded me of a barcode scanner at a retail store, scans for each teat and gently directs each milker into place.  The whole milking process takes about 5-10 minutes, depending on the cow’s production.  After the milking is done, an antiseptic iodine solution is sprayed onto the teats.  All of this is done automatically by the robotic milker and documented in the computer!  I was fascinated! 

Teats being scanned so milkers can be attached.  You can see the faint red scan on the udder. 

 

 Full side view of the robotic milker.

 

The interesting technology didn’t stop at the milking.  The farm also has an automatic manure scraper to keep the isle as clean as possible.  There also is an automatic back scratcher that the cows can enjoy if they choose to.  There is a robot that pushes feed close to the cows so they can comfortably eat.  And the cows even enjoy the comfort of a water bed in each of their stalls.  Everything at this farm caters to the cows’ comfort!

                                                         Robot pushing feed to cows.

 

Cow activating automatic back scratcher.

The cows were all very calm, happy and friendly.  The cows are used to seeing large groups of people who come to tour the farm and even enjoy their pictures taken!  Even with all of the technology used there is still plenty of labor associated with the whole process.   The farm owners stay busy feeding cows and calves, growing and harvesting feed, caring for cows about to calve, and maintaining the business end of the farm, just to name a few!  Just because robots are utilized here doesn’t mean the owners don’t stay plenty busy!

I am standing on the comfy stall water beds!

Thank you to the Farm Women’s Symposium for arranging this visit and the Foley Family Farm for opening their barn doors to us!   I found everything very interesting and couldn’t wait to pass on the informationJ