Ag Alert Aug 25, 2021

Milking Continued from Page 11

the cows choose when they want to lie down on their beds, eat, drink water or go to the robots to be milked. With this design, they can do any of these actions as often as they want. The second is called a guided flow in which there are a series of “finger gates” (one-way gates) that takes them to lie downon their bed, another toeat or drink or go to the robot to be milked. To eat or drinkwater, they have to go to the robot to be milked. And they can’t go back. Some producers will retrofit their barn to accommodate the robot. But a lot of farms will build new barns with better ventilation, larger stall size and wider aisles for better cow flow. “All these things combined can overall improve cow comfort with robots or not, but now you are doing that because you are investing and you are putting in these machines,” Ferreira said. There are currently four players in the automation market, Ferreira said. “We’re focusing on two because they are the largest ones, and they are Lely and DeLaval, but we are also interested in learning from other manufactures, and also from farms with automatic ro- tary parlors.” Initially, these companies provided funding, but now banks such as Farm

Producers and oth- ers are weighing the economic feasibility of installing automated milking machines.

Credit are offering financing, Bruno said. Automated milking systems, if main- tenance of the machines is done prop- erly, are expected to last about 20 years, Bruno said. The challenge with the old machines is they don’t have the same performance as the new ones—such as how fast the automatic arm is able to recognize the teat and attach the cups.

The more cows that go into the box per day, the more milk production per box there will be. That all contributes to the affordability of the systems, Ferreira said. Companies selling the systems don’t buy back oldmachines. But Ferreira said she thinks as large dairies begin adopting robots, there may be an opportunity for upgrading to newmachines, or a market for usedmachines. The price of the robots is dropping, with automatedmilking systems costing 40% less than seven to eight years ago, Ferreira said. Thenewer versions on themarket have many features frompushing feed topreg- nancy checks. “They’re going to be able to do a lot of things,” Bruno said. In the future, the machines may even give shots, and with the feed pushers, the machine wi l l mix and push the feed. The robotic milker can also flag issues such as mastitis so the cow can be

pulled and checked, Bruno said. “There is a lot of automation out there, and I think that’s the directionwe are go- ing,” Bruno said. There is a learning curve to automat- edmilking systems. Ferreira said it’s not for every farm because it requires a big change in producers’ and employees’ mindsets toward management. Some producers said employees were very interested in learning the new sys- tem while others have actually had to replace employees, Ferreira said. Once the information is gathered and research is completed, a guide book will be created for producers interested in in- stalling the systems, Bruno said. “It’s not our goal to tell them to install or not install the robots or go with plan A or planB,” Bruno said. “It’smostly to give themmore information.” (Kathy Coatne y i s a repor t er in Bend, Oregon. She may be contacted at kacoatney@gmail.com.)

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12 Ag Alert August 25, 2021