ATW22: Wednesday: Robotic dairy in action

There was a chance to see a robotic dairy in action at this Agri-TechE Week event hosted by the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA). The RNAA also sponsored a farmer’s bursary for the REAP conference, held on Tuesday of Agri-TechE Week.

The tour of Mill Farm Dairy gave attendees the opportunity to see the sophisticated robotic technology in action and provide insights into how the milking robots are helping to improve cow health, reproduction and milk productivity.

Improving the work-life balance for dairy farmers

Mark Barnes is a third generation Norfolk dairy farmer with a herd of 180 Holstein cows. He has recently invested in three DeLaval milking robots.

The concept behind robotic milking is that instead of fixed milking times the cows can present themselves for milking when they want.  The robot identifies the cow issues the correct amount of feed is given, and decides if the cow is allowed to be milked, which is both time dependent (depending on stage of lactation) and individual milk yield. It then cleans the udder and stimulates the flow with milk with warm water and compressed air.

For some cows this may be up to five times a day and many of DeLaval’s customers report that the volume of milk produced has increased and they have freed up time for other activities.

Ten percent of cows in UK are now milked by robot and the use of robotics also enables automated collation of individualised data for each cow. It is possible to add features such as automated progesterone testing that are able to identify fertility periods more accurately increasing breeding efficiency and to treat conditions while the animal is being milked.

Not all cow breeds or individuals are suitable for robot milking. The udder needs to be pointing down to allow the robot to attach the sucking device. For this reason, breeding is now directed at developing breeds that are more suited to automated milking.

Thank you to Taylor IMS for supporting this event.

More about RNAA.

Agri-TechE Week is a partnership initiative founded in 2014 by Agri-TechE with the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association. The week features a mix of in-person and virtual events that are designed to showcase exciting developments in agri-tech. It is coordinated by Agri-TechE working closely with partners across the innovation ecosystem and aims to provide opportunities to attract new customers and partners and to broker collaborations and international connections.