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Milking Dairy Cows With A Robot

Have you ever wondered how cows are milked at a commercial farm? We took a tour of a dairy farm to find out.

Technology has sure changed the way dairy cows are milked.  Modern farms are equipped with one or more robotic milking systems.

Benefits to Using a Robotic Milking System

There are many benefits for the farmer to use a robotic milking system:

  • the robot saves the farmer labor costs as the cows are largely able to milk themselves
  • the cow can be milked whenever it desires to be
    • the farmer can see a lot of data about each cow on a computer screen

He can see things like:

  • how many times a cow was milked during the day
  • when it had been milked
  • how much the cow weighs
  • how much milk the cow gave – broken down by each quarter of the udder
  • and much more

He can use that data to help detect which cows need extra care, and if there are cows that didn’t get milked enough, he can then ensure that they do.

How the Robotic Milking System Works

The robotic milking system allows the cows to be milked as they desire.  

When a cow wishes to be milked, it walks into the robot.  It’s an area, just large enough for the cow to stand in.

You can see it in the image below.  The doors you see are the exit doors, it walks in from the other side.

milking robot for dairy cows

This is what the actual robot looks like:

dairy cows milking robot

It’s behind the red area you see in the picture above.

A cow walked into the robot while we were there.  Do you see the collar around the cow’s neck?

cow walking through milking robot

It’s called a transponder tag. It identifies each cow. So when this cow walked in, the robot determined it had already been milked and promptly opened up the exit doors letting the cow walk right back out.  

The cow gets a yummy treat when it’s milked in the robot. Perhaps that’s why this cow tried to get milked again.

The Robot Milking A Cow

Another cow walked in needing to be milked.  

The robot knows the exact position of each cow’s teats and quickly locates them using a laser. 

It uses a brush to clean and disinfect each teat.  

Then, it attaches the milking device to each teat and begins to milk.

robot milking all 4 teats of dairy cow

When the robot detects that one of the quarters of the cows udder no longer has any milk, it automatically detaches off that teat.

robot milking 3 teats of dairy cow
robot milking last teat of dairy cow

Where Does The Milk Get Stored?

The milk from each teat goes through hoses…

cow milk goes through hoses to holding tank

…to a container that collects the milk.

milk holding tank

That milk is then sent through pipes into a much bigger milk tank, called the bulk tank.  The milk is refrigerated in the tank to keep it cool.

Transporting the Milk

Every day or so, a milk truck goes to the farm and pumps all the milk from the bulk tank to the truck with a hose.  

The driver might pick up milk from a few farms before bringing it to a processing plant.  There, the milk is prepared, pasteurized, and packaged before being sent to the stores for us to buy.

What Happens to Milk from Sick Cows?

It’s discarded.

In Canada, it’s forbidden to mix milk from a cow on antibiotics together with the milk from the rest of the herd.  

So, the robot automatically puts the milk from a sick cow into a separate collection area, where it will be discarded.  

If the robot detects blood in the milk, it will also divert it.

Do Cows Like Being Milked?

Yes, the cow likes being milked.

Any woman who’s previously nursed a baby would tell you that when their breasts were full of milk, their breasts would feel increasingly heavy and full, with mounting pressure, that would become increasingly more uncomfortable. As much as the baby needed the mom for food, the mom needed the baby to relieve the pressure and discomfort. Having the milk removed, was a relief.

Cows also need that relief and want to be milked.

The cow gets a yummy treat whenever it’s milked by the robot. Many times, cows will walk into the robot to try and get milked even when they have already been milked because they want another treat.

What’s a visit to a dairy farm without seeing the baby calfs.

Samantha @ Stir the Wonder

Saturday 9th of May 2015

Wow! Technology is amazing! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you join us again this week!