Add milking to the list of jobs that can be accomplished with robots. According to a recent New York Times article, some farms are installing automated milking systems that enable cows to milk themselves without farmer oversight.
This enables farmers to dedicate more time to care for the animals and performing other farm tasks. And using the machines allows the cows to dictate when they are milked, up to five or six times a day, which generally increases milk production.
Under the automated system, each cow wears a transponder. The machines use lasers to scan and map the cows’ underbellies. A computer charts each cow’s milking speed, amount and quantity of produced milk, number of visits to the machine, how much the cow eats, and the number of steps taken in a day.
According to the article, the shift toward robotized milking is largely being driven by increased farm costs, in particular labor costs such as health insurance, room and board, and workers’ compensation insurance. Also, dependable labor is difficult to find.
But, the shift to automated milking is pricey. An automated milking machine costs up to $250,000 and improvements to a farm may also be needed to operate them.
