Rise of the Robots: How Robots Are Changing Dairy Farms
1 min read
Summary
Robots are automating dairy farms which has led to increased productivity, particularly in the amount of cows a farmer can handle.
Dutch company Lely is at the forefront of developing this technology, with automated robots that can milk cows, as well as a manure cleaning robot.
Although generally well received by farmers, there is some scepticism about whether the cost of the robots can be justified and whether more mundane tasks, such as cleaning stables, will ever be fully automated.
The article concludes that while full automation may still be some way off, making cows happier and reducing workload are valuable goals in themselves.
It also notes, perhaps ironically, that cows seem to be more than capable of using self-milking robots unsupervised.
