Design and implementation of a system for automatic milking and feeding

Abstract

To investigate the feasibility of implementing a completely automated milking and feeding under typical dairy farm conditions, a prototype fully integrated system was designed and installed at an experimental fann. The bam had the following sections: a feeding area, a lying area, and an automatic milking system area. The automatic milking system included a milking stall with a robot for automated attachment of the milking cluster and two selection units. Concentrates can be fed in the milking stall as well as in the selection units. Cows enter the automatic milking system from the lying area through one of the two selection units and can be sent to the milking stall or to the feeding area. In the milking stall, cows are milked automatically by the milking robot. In the feeding area, an automated feeding system is available, in which the individual forage intake of cows can be controlled and measured. The process control can be divided into three groups: robot control, cow traffic control, and management control. The system offers much flexibility with regard to the milking frequency, cow traffic, and feed allocation. The system was used for 7 months with a one-way cow routing and an average of 79 planned milkings per day. Many data were collected automatically and could immediately be utilized for on-line decisions. Although many questions still have to be answered, the system proved to be flexible enough to allow automatic milking and feeding with much variation in milking frequency, feedstuff allocation, and cow traffic.