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To qualify this a little, there is a way the robots can increase antibiotic use, and that would be if the hygiene of the robot is worse than that of other milki
by bayesianhorse 13y ago
To qualify this a little, there is a way the robots can increase antibiotic use, and that would be if the hygiene of the robot is worse than that of other milking systems. But this does not seem to be the case. The robot would probably serve less "customers" with more thorough cleaning in between...
- frik 13y agoIt has nothing todo with robots per se. Robots just make it a lot easier to feed a lot more animals in a narrow space with little human interaction. In the United States, the use of antibiotics in livestock is still prevalent. The FDA reports that 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in 2009 were administered to livestock animals, and that many of these antibiotics are identical or closely related to drugs used for treating illnesses in humans. Consequently, many of these drugs are losing their effectiveness on humans, and the total healthcare costs associated with drug-resistant bacterial infections in the United States are between $16.6 billion and $26 billion annually -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming The same goes for some countries in Europe. And as companies are importing goods from cheap farming companies such food can be found everywhere.
- bayesianhorse 13y agoNo, traditional milking systems allow more intensive cattle stables than robotic systems. Which doesn't matter in Europe, because the space requirements per cow are a lot higher than the minimum possible. If anything, the robot allows for a less stressful milking and probably "happier" cows. I can't see any connection between increased use of antibiotics and autonomous milking....