It was early in the evening on Thursday, Sept. 20. Members of the Meyer family were catching up on various tasks. They had put in a long day on Wednesday, harvesting, packing and covering their corn silage crop ahead of rain in the forecast.

Parlor expectations have changed. The goal of milking cows the best we can remains: to milk them safely, gently, quickly and completely. But the need for efficiency has changed how we milk cows, the number of cows we strive to milk per hour and how we approach milking labor.

On most modern dairy operations across the U.S., you will find an office with a computer. The computer is most likely running 24 hours a day and may be covered with some dust or fly scat. In that computer, you can find records and information about the performance of the dairy herd.

An automatic milking system (AMS) or robot is an advanced and well-working technology for milking cows and takes the labor away from the actual milking process. However, it is vital to remember that one cannot just trust the milking machine to ensure cow welfare and production or even efficient labor usage.

When it comes to the adoption of automated milking systems, Dr. Nigel Cook said, “The U.S. is way behind. “This is a European system being transplanted in North America and that’s great because we can learn from some of the teething problems and issues that Europe has had to deal with, but we also create some other problems and challenges that they haven’t,” he continued.