A farmer is sitting by a
cow, milking by hand. The year is 1944, the year I was born. He’s milking the
same way his father and grandfather did before him. Nothing much had changed in
milking cows over the years. Mechanical milking machines had been invented, but
most farmers were still milking by hand. Even S.M. Babcock, (of Babcock test
fame) wrote in an 1892 issue of The
National Dairyman that “milking machines would result in poorer quality of
milk and lower the standards of dairy animals.” Other dairy experts warned
against resorting to machine milking. They were afraid that mechanical milking
would destroy the udders.
If someone had told my
father in 1944 that his new son would see the day when robots milked the cows,
he’d have accused them of hitting the bottle or losing their marbles. “Robots
milking cows! Never happen!”
A person talking about
robotic milking would definitely have been a dreamer and visionary. It’s no
longer a dream or science fiction. Last week I watched as cows were milked with
no one there to handle the milking machine. It’s a reality and far removed from
the days when I helped milk.
By the time I was old
enough to sit under a cow and help with the milking, my father had purchased a
milking machine. The only time I had to milk by hand was when the power went
out. Milking machines won’t work without electricity. Farmers didn’t worry
about power outages when they milked by hand. Things were pretty simple then.
The main things a farmer
needed to milk cows when I was born were a milk pail and flexible knees. Before
each cow was milked, a disinfectant solution, mixed with lukewarm water, was
used to clean the cow’s udder and teats. We used a rag dipped in the solution
to wipe the teats.
When the disinfecting was
done, you squatted beside the cow and applied each teat cup by hand. Not all
cows stood quietly chewing their cud as you milked them. Some cows liked to
kick. Sometimes they kicked the milk bucket, and the milker, into the gutter
behind the cows.
When the bucket was full,
it was carried to where the milk cans were sitting and the milk was poured into
a stainless steel strainer. It filtered out any debris and flies that may have
ended up in the pail while you were milking.
A farmer could milk two
cows at one time if he had two milking machines. You were constantly moving,
disinfecting a cow’s udder and teats, attaching the teat cups from the milking machine,
disinfecting another cow, attaching the milker to her, checking the first cow
to see how she was milking out, removing the milker, and dumping the milk into
the strainer on a can. Then you headed for another cow and did it all over
again. That routine went on morning and night, seven days a week, 365 days a
year. There were no days off. There were no sick days, or “I don’t feel like
working today” days. The cows needed to be milked twice a day. Being a dairy
farmer was more than a full-time job.
Enter robotic milking and
the farmer is no longer tied to the milking process morning and night, 365 days
a year. I saw the system in action at the Dennis and Maureen Amundson farm on
Highway 27 north of Westby. It was a real eye-opener for me and I can’t even
imagine what my father would have thought of robotic milking. It really frees
up a farmer’s time so they aren’t chained to the cows morning and night for
milking. The cows are housed in free-stall barns and trained to enter the
milking area whenever the urge strikes them. They enter a narrow chute with a
metal gate that opens automatically. Once they enter the milking station, an
overhead scanner detects a collar or ear tag worn by each cow. It then
dispenses some feed for that cow. As she eats, a robotic arm cleans the teats
with rotary brushes and they are automatically rinsed and treated with a
disinfectant. An optical scanner then guides the teat cups into place. Teat
coordinates for the cows have been recorded in the computer. When milk flow is
no longer detected, the teat cups drop off automatically. When all four
quarters are done, the front gate opens and she walks out.
I watched other cows come
into the milking station expecting to be fed, but when the scanner detected
they had already been milked earlier, the front gate opened and they had to
exit. Only when the scanner detects that a cow is ready to be milked, does the
robotic milking process go into action. The milk goes from the robotic milker,
through a pipeline, into a large milk holding tank.
Even the hay that is fed
to the cows in the free-stall barn is automated. Every hour a rotating machine
goes down the aisle and pushes the hay closer so the cows can reach it.
Times have certainly
changed. Now a farmer has more free time to go places and attend events without
having to rush home and milk. Dairy farming is an exciting, high-tech
occupation to be involved in. Milking cows has really changed in the last 68
years!
*
No comments:
Post a Comment