Published: January 02, 2008 04:27 pm            

Robotic milking lets you forget about the 5 o'clock alarm

Cows set their own schedule

Though still in its infancy with Minnesota dairy farmers, robotic milking systems could definitely be the “next wave” of new technology that finds its way into the U.S. dairy industry.

Called a Voluntary Milking System by DeLaval, their working exhibit at the recent Midwest Dairy Expo in St. Cloud attracted a steady stream of dairy farmers, of all ages, viewing what appears to be a totally labor-free milking system.

“It’s incredible technology,” said Daryl Mathsen, 19-year-old ag business student at the University of Minnesota, Crookston. He is also dairy farming with his dad at their 60-cow dairy farm near Alvarado.

Incredible indeed. The DeLaval VMS system:
• Prepares each cow for milking with a warm-water teat wash.
• Monitors each teat during the milking process with teat cups removed as each quarter is completely milked.
• Milks high-producing cows up to five times or more in a 24-hour period.
• Offers a sweet feed each time the cow is milked and a maximum of 3 pounds each milking.
• Works with larger dairies as well as the 60- to 200-cow family dairy farms.

At this time, only two robotic systems are in operation in Minnesota. Nels and Matt Goblirsch have a Lely system in operation at their rural Wabasso dairy farm, and Del Benjamin, has operated a DeLaval system at his Hutchinson dairy farm for nearly one year.

Though only about two years exposure in the United States, the original development of robotic milking dates back 20 years to Holland, according to Nick Kunkel, VMS specialist with DeLaval Inc. at his Ramsey headquarters.

Getting something with the technological complexity of robotic milking into the market takes time. DeLaval engineers, computer technicians and dairy scientists spent nearly 15 years perfecting their version of robotic milking systems and Kunkel points out there already are different generations of robotic systems. However, market penetration is barely measurable.

“We know every system installed in the United States so far, both by us and Lely,” Kunkel said.

Future potential?
Between 5 to 10 percent of U.S. dairy operations could go robotic within the next decade. Obviously it’s a sizeable investment or uptake logically would be considerably quicker.

Key features of robotic milking besides the obvious labor savings are better production and increased cow longevity. “But the tremendous savings in labor will be the line item that shows up strongest for the dairyman. He’ll see an immediate improvement in time available to himself if he’s doing his own milking. If he’s hiring labor, then the hired labor costs can be charged directly against the robot investment,” Kunkel said.

European studies indicate 3- to 9-pound increases in daily milk production.

“We think there will be some improvement in production just as there has been in Europe. And better longevity or less culling is pretty much a certainty based on European data. Whether you gain one more lactation, or more, remains to be seen.”

Part of that predicted increase on longevity is the flexibility of the VMS unit.

“If it’s an udder conformation problem, the unit can milk virtually any type of udder. We can attach up to 45-degree teats; if the camera and lasers can see it, we can probably attach it,” Kunkel said. “In traditional barns, those cows would be culled. So that’s an immediate gain — a reduction in your culling rate. Obviously the longer you can keep a good cow in the milking lineup, the better the year-end summary.”

Kunkel, himself a product of a dairy farm in southeast Minnesota, said cows are simply under less stress in a VMS system. Why? Robotic barns are quieter. Cows, not man, set the environment in terms of when they want to eat, when they want to be milked, when they want to sleep, perhaps even when they want to socialize with their sisters.

“Cows move on their own. They’re not forced into a holding pen; there is no backing gate; they aren’t herded into a parlor. They pretty much set their own schedules and that’s why the name Voluntary Milking System.”

Heavy milkers, in the early stages of each lactation, may do four or five milkings per 24-hour period. “That’s the way their own internal system drives a cow. They set the agenda at the front end of a lactation. But at the other end of the lactation, they’re now bred, milking less, getting a little lazy so the dairyman has to tweak their schedule to a 3X, or 2X milking and that’ s done by how frequently they have access to the VMS milk station,” he said.

Depending upon the barn, there may be considerable, or little, rearrangement of traffic patterns to provide the best results. Ideally, cows should be guided into the robot area to or from their feeding areas, so there could be some loss of cow space in an older barn reconfigured to robotic milking.

Kunkel says the VMS system essentially gives a 23-hour period for milking, leaving that one extra hour for cleaning and other chores. “So, if your facility is designed so that cows are always at the robot next in line to be milked, the system could theoretically milk 70 to 75 cows. But that’s the Achilles heel in a free-traffic system; there occasionally is the laggard.

“So more realistically we say 55 to 60 cows is the ‘easy capacity’ of a unit.”

Smaller family dairy farms are bigger market
Accepting the 60-cow size as the average for a VMS unit, where’s the market?

“At this stage, 90 percent of our prospects are herds of 200 and fewer cows. So the mega dairy at this stage is not our major emphasis. The robotic system was designed for these family dairy farms because here is where the benefit is most apparent, be it a significant change in family lifestyle like being able to have breakfast with Mom and the kids, or perhaps the complete elimination of a hired man,” Kunkel said.

In Europe, where dairy farm labor had gotten very expensive, robotics were introduced to ease the labor pinch. As that becomes a bigger issue in the United States, robotics may be the solution.

Economics of robots
Producers start with the accepted depreciation schedule since investment costs are sizeable. Kunkel said 12 years has already become the accepted depreciation, though DeLaval has systems installed that are on 15-year schedules.

“We know from the limited numbers of units that we have out that 10 to 12 years are certainly within the life-span of a given system,” Kunkel said. Obviously because computer technology is such a major component of robotic systems, there will be software updates that potentially keep extending the life of a system indefinitely.

The base robot box costs from $125,000 to $150,000 depending upon how many systems a given dairy is installing.

“The first unit is always the most expensive because it houses the software for subsequent units. And depending upon the state, it could be higher since some states now require ‘instant milk’ cooling, for example,” Kunkel said.

And who’s buying?
Because of the strong interest from commercial family-size dairy farms, the Minnesota and Wisconsin markets are among the No. 1 market for DeLaval VMS units, according to Kunkel.

DeLaval’s interest in the Upper Midwest dairy market for robotics is primarily because this has always been an important market area for the company, which markets nationwide and internationally.

“There are very good dairy operations across our country, and as the robotic concept takes hold, we’ll be serving that market wherever it is. We see dairy cow numbers stabilizing, even increasing right here in the Upper Midwest. So if a robotic system provides the opportunity for Dad to do another 10 years, like maybe retiring at 70 instead of 60, power to him. Or maybe a VMS unit lets Mom and Dad and their children take on another 240 acres of land. More time for crop farming is certainly an opportunity of robotics,” Kunkel said.

Perhaps not surprising is the apparent fact that cows adapt to robotic milking quickly and easier than do “cow farmers.” Kunkel said an entire herd should become comfortable with the system within a week, sometimes just a couple days. “But we’re changing the life of that dairy farmer. He’s been doing what he’s been doing for 15 to 40 years, even more. So it’s a huge change for him and we can help them so they can get all the benefits out of the robot. “

Robotics don’t kick the dairy farmer out of the barn, but he no longer has to start his day at 5 a.m. Cows are being milked 24/7 whether he is on the scene or not. The wonderful world of laser beams and micro-chip imaging cameras smoothly guide the milking operation of each and every cow, be it 6 a.m., 12 noon, 10 p.m. or 2 o’clock in the morning.

“What Dad can now do is leisurely enjoy breakfast with the family, see the kids off to school, even read the morning paper when it’s still morning. Those cows are being milked whether he’s sleeping or not, whether he’s in town, or maybe he and the family decide to take off and enjoy a Twins game.”

Kunkel said some dairymen have a hard time staying out of the dairy barn.

“So there is about a 15-minute chore each day for checking out the robot, making sure the camera lens is clean, stuff like that. But beyond that, his day is left for feeding cows, handling fresh cows, hospital cows, those types of things.”

Challenges?
Technical challenges arise any time a piece of machinery with electrical, hydraulics, air and vacuum is involved. So trouble-free engineering was a prerequisite in the design of the robot. In essence, a dairy farmer isn’t expected to be on the scene if a fuse should suddenly blow. This means a clean electrical system is needed since the robot deals with a lot of electronics. The laser-beam/camera technology has been on the scene in food processing, bottling, and countless other high volume industries, so reliability is not an issue.

“Everyone is intrigued by robotic milking,” Kunkel said. “Perhaps not too surprisingly, both young dairymen who grow up with electronics and also older dairymen see this as smart use of money. This just might be the way to more easily get another 10 years of productive dairying under their belt, because they really aren’t ready to completely retire anyway.”

At the end of 10 years the unit can be picked up with a forklift and moved to the next dairy farm.

        

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