Robot Milker Developed In Holland

Robot milker developed in Holland AG WORLD Ag World 9-5-20 A Dutch manufacturer says its new robot milker is ready for testing on dairy farms and that it expects virtually all of the world's dairymen to switch over to robots by the year 2000. According to a report in the New Zealand Farmer, the manufacturer Gascoigne-Melotte, believes that farmers using its robot milker will be able to milk cows four or five times a day, which they say will be beneficial for the udder and will increase milk production. The computer-guided milk machine approaches the cow from behind. The operator attaches the cups by hand to the udder the first time it's used so that the robot can store the coordinates of the location of the udder on each cow in its memory. From then on, for each milking, it automatically finds the teats. The milking machine recognizes each cow individually and teat coordinates are adjusted automatically each milking, if needed, to adapt to any sight changes. The robot makes up part of a system of programmed feeding and computer measurement of milk stream and quantity, all linked to a microcomputer that lets the operator analyze the data. Additional measuring instruments, such as electronic milk meters and conductivity meters for mastitis and cell count, will be added in the future.

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