The introduction of automated milking systems nearly 30 years ago raised a key question: When should cows be milked?

The dairy industry has spent the last few decades designing barns for automated milking – resulting in hundreds of different configurations – all of which have been a variation of two robots layouts: perpendicular and tollbooth.

A great feature of automated milking systems is the flexibility they can offer in terms of cow flow. For every producer interested in automated milking, the philosophy of, “If you can imagine it, it can become reality,” holds true, as there are a variety of cow traffic setups that can be used to help producers meet their goals.