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Robotic Milking Is Becoming A Huge Part Of The Dairy Industry

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Robotic milking is becoming a huge part of the dairy industry today. Today, lactating cows are able to choose a time in which they want to be milked, and how often they want to be milked. The robotic milking machine will prep, milk, and post dip the cow without humans having to do the work manually (Figure One). Robots also give the farmers additional information about each individual cow. Farmers are able to choose which type of system flow they want for their animals, and what they think is best for their herd. The labor for robotic milking is less intense than the labor in tie stall/ stanchion barn, and can reduce the amount of employees the farmer has, which in return may help save the farmer money. Many farmers are switching to this new way of milking their cows, because of flexibility and increase in milk quality. Robotic milking is growing in the dairy industry and becoming more popular in the United States, and we are going to start seeing more farmers install them. When it comes to robotic milking, the farmer has different options on how they want their cows to flow through the milking machine. Cows who are milked through a robot can either have free access to the robot, or can be forced trafficked (also known as milk-first system), to the robot (Munksgaard et al., 2011). When cows have free access to the robot facility, the cows are able to access the feed and robot all hours of each and every day. They are able to walk into the robot freely whenever the robot is

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