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                   The Future of Dairy Farming: Robot Milkers

   by Steve Baragona

   At his dairy operation in rural Maryland, John Fendrick has seen the
   future for milking his cows, and it is robotic.

   Gone are the quaint days of milkmaids, milk stools and the pit-pat of a
   stream of milk into a tin pail in a bucolic barn setting. At Woodbourne
   Creamery about an hour outside of Washington, D.C., it is robots doing
   the work that Fendrick admits he doesn't care for.

   "I don't like milking," he told VOA during a recent tour.

   Fendrick is one of a growing number of dairy operations around the
   United States, Europe and Australia that are using the latest evolution
   in milking technology.

    "You're given your freedom back, essentially," he told VOA. "So it
   allows me or the people who work for me to do other things on the
   farm."
   With the exception of small-scale farmers, dairy operations have long
   since moved beyond the stool and the pail. Most larger dairies have
   long used mechanized vacuum pumps to increase yields and cut down on
   labor costs, but they still required workers to tend the milking
   process and the machinery.

   With this newest technology, the robot does all the work, finding each
   cow teat using a laser, then cleaning it, then attaching the milking
   tube. The robot also checks the milk for contamination and
   automatically spits out the rejects.

   When the flow of milk slows down, the machine knows to stop and sends
   the cow on its way.

   The technology isn't inexpensive. Fendrick has spent more than $150,000
   to install the system. He points out, however, that paying someone to
   milk the cows isn't cheap, either.

   Dairy cows need to be milked on a regular schedule or else their milk
   flows slow. Most farmers are tied to a schedule of early morning and
   late evening milkings, twice a day, every day, rain or shine.

   By contrast, with 50 Guernsey cows, Fendrick, says they can stay out in
   the pasture until they feel like a milking. Some come in the middle of
   the night.

   On Woodbourne's 60 acres of pasture, Fendrick does not even need to be
   there to watch them. He can watch from his smart phone and find out
   when each cow milked last and how much she produced.

   "With my phone, I can actually do pretty much everything I normally do
   up at the dairy," he said.

   His wife Mary told VOA that the "Voluntary Milking System," as the
   operation is called by its makers, DeLaval of Sweden, saves about the
   equivalent of one to one-and-a-half milkers in labor.

   "In 3 years, I will have paid off the difference with this, and I don't
   have to be the person who's always on call to milk," he said.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/robot-cow-milking/1937080.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/robot-cow-milking/1937080.html