I grew up on a ranch. Now, we didn't milk our cows very often, as they were beef cattle; Herefords don't produce as much milk as dairy cattle like Holsteins. We'd only milk our cows when there was a problem, such as when a cow lost its calf or got an udder infection. Since milking didn't happen often on our ranch, we had to do it by hand.
Dairy farms used to milk all their cattle by hand, but the process has become much more automated over the years. Even so, automatic milking machines required a human to monitor the process, to place the suction cups on each teat for instance.
Well, we've come a long way, baby. DeLaval has introduced a completely automatic robotic milking machine. Here's how it works:
When a cow decides that it needs to be milked, it walks into a special stall. An implanted chip identifies the cow, and athe program running the milking robot decides if enough time has elapsed since the last time the cow was milked. If so, then a trough containing dietary supplements pops out, giving the cow something to munch on. Then a robotic arm equipped with lasers and optical sensors finds and cleans each of the four teats, and attaches suction cups.The flow of milk from each quarter is monitored and compared against that animal's past production record, providing early detection of disease. After a quarter has been drained, the suction cup pops off and retracts to a holder. When the animal is finished milking, the robotic arm sprays disinfectant on the udder, and the cow is released to the feeding area. The machine then cleans the stall with high-pressure water jets, and the suction cups are also cleaned and drip-dryed.
Video of the robotic milking machine is available here.
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