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I did some video work this year for Nedap out of the Netherlands who have cow collars that track heat detection and health issues. e.g., they’ll track reduced m
by prawn 6y ago
I did some video work this year for Nedap out of the Netherlands who have cow collars that track heat detection and health issues. e.g., they’ll track reduced movement or tossing of the head, rumination, etc. Coupled with smart gates at the dairy, they can isolate cows automatically to health pens for review, etc.
One dairy we visited had robotic milk machines running all night. The cows return as needed and the cups automatically find the tests, check for disease, track milk volume and so on.
- iamwpj 6y agoTheir methodology of allowing the herd to function independently and then focusing data collection on health issues and consistency is the right idea here. You want to measure time spent caring for the herd against time spent perform actions to continue to collect milk from the herd. It's a balance, but if you can get more efficient human time spent caring for the herd (good health sensors!) then you're always going to see a happier cow.
- floren 6y agoDid the milking machines clean the teats before beginning the milking, too?
- prawn 6y agoYes, the teats are cleaned, cups cleaned, all automatically. Cow is fed during and has optional feed afterwards. Instead of there being a fixed milking time, the cows just come in whenever they feel like it - encouraged by the feeling of relief. They’d auto-detect mastitis etc. Obviously people have views on dairy but the tech was very cool to see up close. The dairy family could look up on their phone, any particular cow and get info on milk volume and timings.
- floren 6y agoThat's very cool. I have mixed feelings on replacing humans in yet another role, but if it can do a better job than humans (automatically dump & flag mastitis cases, clean more thoroughly, etc.) it's a win.
- prawn 6y agoTypically a system like this is replacing a rotary dairy which can be operated by 1-2 people, plus health/AI contractors as needed. In the case of these robotic milking machines, one of the owners (the mother of the family) said that it had rejuvenated their interest in the dairy industry. I guess it would remove the early morning starts and sitting around watching cows for signs of heat which would get old fast.