A SPECIAL PRODUCERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® C A L I F O R N I A Dairy & Livestock ®
U.S. dairy farmers are looking to use technology such as the automated milking system to reduce labor costs and improve their bottom line.
Automated systems offering freedom frommilking ByKathyCoatney Automated milking systems have been used in Europe for over 25 years, and U.S. dairy farmers are increasingly adopting the technology. Automation overall is becoming more popular in dairy operations with precision devices in general, Ferreira said.
“You have all the data that is being generated, and if you like to look at your numbers and combine that with your observations from the cows and from the barn, you can make small adjustments and improve the bottom line of your operation,” Ferreira said. The automated milking systems available today are not the same as the machines that were available 15 years ago. “Nowwe knowmuchmore in terms of milk quality, in terms ofmilking flow, in terms of box time, in terms of the cow’s behavior,” Ferreira said. Automation is expensive and before large dairies make an investment of this size, they want to knowmore about it, Bruno said. The first phase of the research will be to talk to large dairies that have installed the systems. The dairies will be surveyed on reasons for investing in them and resulting changes in terms of installation, brand, planning and whether they would have done anything differently. The research is looking at heat stress, reproduction, animal welfare and how it im- pacts the health and longevity of the cows. It will also look at funding and retrofitting existing barns or building new ones. There are twomaindesigns for automatedmilking systems. Free flow is one inwhich
Many small dairies see it as a way to improve their lifestyle—by getting more free- dom frommilking. Now the California Dairy Research Foundation is funding studies to evaluate the economic feasibility of implementing voluntary milking machines or milking robots in large dairies. “The idea was basically to understand the risks and the opportunities of imple- menting automatic milking systems in large dairies,” said Fernanda Ferreira, cooper- ative extension specialist with the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis. Ferreira received a Dairy Research Foundation grant to pursue such studies along with fellow grant recipient Daniela Bruno, a doctor of veterinary medicine and a co- operative extension dairy advisor in Fresno County . Large dairy operations are taking a hard look at automatedmilking systems to reduce labor and overtime costs, especially in California, Bruno said. Cow comfort and longevity are also a driving force for large dairies, Ferreira said. Some producers see automation as a way to attract their kids back to the farm, but others want more data and more control of their operation through this technology.
See MILKING, Page 12
August 25, 2021 Ag Alert 11
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