How the Cow Milked Itself

I miked cows for 11 years. There is a big problem, cows will stay up all night to think of ways to break things!

I watched this in action on TV fairly recently. It seemed to work really well , and was used with the Cows deciding themselves when they wanted to be milked . That point is not clear from the intro.

It was working great , and I guess that the cows willingly going to the device is the ultimate user approval . Happy cows must be a good thing for welfare and yield. The Hygiene system was well thought out as well . Hats off to the Dutch (I do resist obvious jokes sometimes ). This has got to have benefits for the Dairy industry , but I imagine it's only the big players who can afford the Capital outlay. Supermarkets push the industry right to the brink of viability.

Not again this is really old hat British farmers have had self milking equipment for the last five years at least that I know of.

Detail would be helpful. This system is automatic right from the cow deciding itself when it wants to be milking. I'm UK and have never seen or heard of it. I'm not a Farmer , but I doubt British TV would have covered the story if it was not 'new'.

It was on bbc program sunday lunch time Country File. Also another program on milk production.

There are automatic milking parlours in the UK, I have worked on several dairy farms in the South West that have them installed most are manufactured by DeLaval, most have been installed within the last seven years. There are even portable units that are taken to the field to although I have only seen these at agricultural shows.

I think I saw part of the TV program that the previous post describes, it was on discovery in the US, a very tedious show on descovery about how things are made. The parlour was part of a covered dairy farm where the cows remain in the cow yard all the year. This is not common in england, but cows are yarded in winter to prevent quadmiring the fields (and the grass dosen't grow). Most dairy herds milk 2 to 3 times a day depending upon preference/opinion. Automated parlours were covered by Country File in the UK when they were first introduced.

Regarding covering stories that aren't new, anyone with an iterest in a technical background, will know how long it often takes for things to hit the mainstream. Items are often covered in the less popular/viewed media, years before the mainstream picks up on them. It is often the beacuse of the lag between industrial or developmental/research to comercial/consummer availability. For example when was the last time you heard of operations to replace part of the human eye with a Micro Chip. How many more years will this retinal implant be in delopment, before they have someone on Richard and Judy?

Sorry should have been development not delopment.

Thanks for the info . It sounds as if you are saying UK followed Dutch who followed USA ? I'm not sure . The media time lag is a good one to make , though 'Country File' has always appeared (to me ) to be one of the more respectable TV factual programs.

You should join cr4 - Agricultural Engineering is hugely important to us all . Maybe one of the most important fields (if you'll excuse the bad joke ). Kris

I didn't mean to indicate anyone following anybody. Agriculture like industries is driven by productivity, and the spur for advancement usually comes from those processing or handling the largest herd, flock acreage, will always have the need and the finance to go bigger faster better. Again with industry agriculture is always looking for the next cash crop, and Country File as good a program as it is will often jump on to these, and you later find out that the crop was a failure, but you do not hear about it again. Nothing against the show itself I will still watch it when I am in the UK.

Just for some more information

2 Largest Milk Producing Countries

1. India, 80'000'000'000 Litres, Average Herd Size 2 Cows

2. USA, 71'000'000'000 Litres, Average Herd Size 1000 Cows

Interesting . I guess one factor in Indian cow ownership may be 'holy' cows (?) . Do you know comparative milk cost ?

Just to clarify some of the figures.

Practically the entire Indian dairy industry is run on a co-operative basis. There can be no huge herds as the required land is not possible to be owned by any individual. These dairies have collection & chilling centers spread cross the country from where it is transported to mother dairies for processing/packaging.

Approximately 75 to 80 % of milk produced in India is buffalo milk & not cow milk. We Indians consume clarified butter (called Ghee) in a large way for cooking purposes also & prefer it over vegetable oils (especially the poly-unsaturated ones which upon heating end up producing carcinogens as by product) as cooked food lasts much longer even in high temperatures & does not turn rancid. Buffalo milk has very high fat content some thing to the tune of 9 to 10 % while cow's milk hardly ever exceeds 4 to 4.5 %.

I don't know what the current prices are like in US but some 35 years ago when I used to live there it was like $1/= per US gallon ( 3.8 liters). Currently top quality milk is available in retail packs at around $ 0.50 per liter.

Thanks pmshah - it's great to learn about other people.

The Brits got there first!!

After Canada. My cousins had automatic milking machines over 30 years ago.

do they bribe them into it with a carrott? How do they get them in there? What makes it so enjoyable for the cow? They must like getting their tits tugged on. I guess it's the same, woman complain of their boobs hurting when they are nursing a baby so maybe they go in there to take the pressure off of them.

Very smart idea to improve the yields

Good Friesian Holstein can produce anywhere up to 50 liters of milk in a day walking with this between their legs they will soon learn that they can relieve the strain by visiting the milking parlour. Cows are docile animals and can often be left to there own accord to walk from the field when they are ready to milk to the milking parlour and then back to the field once milked. As long as you have a clear fenced path with no distractions. I have even come across a few farmers who allow their cows to walk across a road unattended, between fields.

I went to a client with a dairy today to check out some of the questions. He has 2000 cows with ±1300 in production at a time. Two units with 2 persons running each unit. The suction cups are fitted by hand but all the rest is under computer control.

Cows are intelligent animals. They may respond to names. They actually compete to be milked first, There seems to be a pecking order – the early ones will always be early.

They are also very curious, At one of the stations he installed an electric plug and each of them will inspect it for up to 2 weeks. I believe that there inspection may also include breaking if the item was breakable. They are natural optimist and if possible the stay in the circle for another revolution to receive an additional portion. (about 20% )

They are very cautious any new item which they cannot inspect will reduce the production.

Cows can be milked more times a day but that reduces their productive life.

He does not intend to change over to a fully automatic system at this stage. (the maximum saving will be only 2 workers)