Robots
allow the cows to set their own hours, lining up for automated milking
five or six times a day — turning the predawn and late-afternoon
sessions around which dairy farmers long built their lives into a thing
of the past.
With
transponders around their necks, the cows get individualized service.
Lasers scan and map their underbellies, and a computer charts each
animal’s “milking speed,” a critical factor in a 24-hour-a-day
operation.
The
robots also monitor the amount and quality of milk produced, the
frequency of visits to the machine, how much each cow has eaten, and
even the number of steps each cow has taken per day, which can indicate
when she is in heat.
“The
animals just walk through,” said Jay Skellie, a dairyman from Salem,
N.Y., after watching a demonstration. “I think we’ve got to look real
hard at robots.”
Many
of those running small farms said the choice of a computerized milker
came down to a bigger question: whether to upgrade or just give up.
“Either
we were going to get out, we were going to get bigger, or we were going
to try something different,” said the elder Mr. Borden, 59, whose
family has been working a patch of ground about 30 miles northeast of
Albany since 1837. “And this was something a little different.”
The
Bordens and other farmers say a major force is cutting labor costs —
health insurance, room and board, overtime, and workers’ compensation
insurance — particularly when immigration reform is stalled in
Washington and dependable help is hard to procure.
The machines also never complain about getting up early, working late or being kicked.
“It’s
tough to find people to do it well and show up on time,” said Tim
Kurtz, who installed four robotic milkers last year at his farm in Berks
County, Pa. “And you don’t have to worry about that with a robot.”
The Bordens say the machines allow them to do more of what they love: caring for animals.
“I’d rather be a cow manager,” Tom Borden said, “than a people manager.”
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