Gary Kregel checking the status of a cow being milked by a robotic milker that he installed in 2014 on his 400 cow family-owned dairy farm near Guttenberg, Iowa. Kregel has six robo-milkers, and his cows average 2.7 milkings per day (fresh cow 4xday, stale cows 2xday). They cost $200k for the first milker, and $170k for each additional Dutch-designed Lely Astronaut 4 milking machine. He is trading off capital expenditure on cost and availability of reliable labor in his rural area. Cows in the system have a transponder in their collar, which identifies them electronically, and records their steps and ruminating chews per day, which indicate appetite, general health, and when the cow may be ready to breed. The milker records total lbs./cow of milk per session, plus temperature and conductivity of milk for indication of milk quality and udder health. It also tells Kregel which cows have potential teat health issues. The transponder allows the robot to adjust the milking pumps for placement over the position of each cow's teats based on their previous five days of milking and also measures teat position with a laser before automated cleaning, attachment and then spraying with disinfectant.
This farm has been in the Kregel family since 1874 and is run by husband, wife, son and daughter. They have one employee and two family members dedicated to running the dairy. Without the robots, they would need 2-3 more employees and double the time (from 8 to 16 hours/day) that the family has to dedicate to running the operation.
- Filename
- STNMTZ_20151027_08340.tif
- Copyright
- ©2015 George Steinmetz
- Image Size
- 8688x5792 / 144.0MB
- Contained in galleries
- 21st Century Agriculture
