The dairy industry has known for years how important it is to provide supplemental cooling to dry cows (Figure 1).

Scalability gives a certain level of flexibility to the way a farm can grow with robots, giving the producer a clear picture of what to expect throughout the path they choose, as well as how they can cash-flow the changes. We’ll demonstrate this using the context of a large herd robotic milking facility design planned for multiple phases of future expansion.

Almost 10 years ago, brothers Mark and Paul Berning decided to install an automated calf feeder to assist with one of the tasks at Green Waves Farm in St. Michael, Minnesota.

In the sandy soils of Wisconsin’s Northwoods sits the old sawmill city of Antigo.

While summer can provide more optimal weather for humans than winter months, it can be negative for dairy cattle with conditions that cause heat stress. 

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.

All animals, including dairy cows, have four possible routes of exchanging heat energy with their environment. These are conduction, convection, radiation and evaporation. The first three are referred to as sensible routes of heat loss, and all require a thermal gradient. In other words, the cow must be hotter than the environment for heat to flow out of the cow into the surrounding environment.

Are you stressed about planting crops this spring? Are you stressed that it will be too wet or too dry when that time comes? Are you stressed about the current and forecasted milk price? Are you stressed about employee retention?

The problem Flies can be costly to dairy farmers due to disease transmission and irritation. Whether feeding upon animals or simply being a nuisance, flies can reduce milk production and decrease weight gains.

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.