Robotic Milking: Current Situation

Adaptability of Dairy Cows to Robotic Milking: a Review

robotic milking systems (rMS) offer an innovative approach to improve productivity on dairy farms. rMS will influence the future growth of farms, the nature of husbandry employed and the quality of life on family farms. For farms using hired labour and located near industrial centres, RMS may contribute to the reduction of wage costs. As this technology is very expensive, and little is known re...

Feeding Strategies and Economic Returns in Robotic Milking Systems

Designing Feeding Systems for Robotic Milking

Feed, is the primary motivation for the cow to visit the robotic milking stall. Highly motivated cows will visit voluntarily, thereby decreasing the need to expend labor fetching cows, and they will visit more frequently and regularly, leading to higher milk production. Forced cow traffic makes it possible to use forage at the bunk to provide motivation, and while it reduces the number of fetch...

Designing the automatic milking farm in a hot climate.

A mathematical simulation model was used to assist 5 farmers in developing design criteria for inclusion of robotic milking systems in each farm situation. The barn layout influences arrivals of cows to the milking robot as well as other cow traffic and must be carefully planned. Each farmer had individual objectives and consequently unique design criteria that determined the optimal solution. ...

An Investigation of Automatic Milking Systems and their Impact on Dairy Cow Welfare

Farmers and researchers are interested in improving cow welfare in the dairy industry. One area of research involves use of automatic milking systems (AMS) on farms. These robotic systems have been shown to be effective in decreasing the prevalence of lameness in the herd (Leach et al., 2012) and decreasing cow stress (Dijkstra et al., 2012). According to Jacobs & Siegford (2012), cow wellbeing...