Farming, Saturday, Uarch 10,1090
On tain
a farm
-And o
hazar
Joyce B
The robots are coming! The
robots are coming!
Maybe sooner than we think.
For years .... decades .... prob
ably centuries, people who milk
cows have periodically pondered
what it would be like to not have
to cover milking chores twice a
day, every day, seven days a
week, Christmas, Easter, July
Fourth, New Year’s Eve, birthday,
anniversary, and ad infinitum.
Those far-sighted foreseers
who look ahead to science-fiction
technology have envisioned for
some time the likelihood that the
day will come when that very
thing will happen. Someday, the
speculation proposed, robots will
be devised to milk cows, thus eli
minating the drudgery (well, on
some days it seems that) of twice
a-day, every day, Christmas, Eas
ter, etc.
You can stop chuckling.
The robots are coming. In fact,
one has already arrived.
The only one in the world cur
rently resides in the Netherlands.
Which is not surprising, in light of
the fact that, smart as we like to
think we are, much of our “new”
technology these days originates
elsewhere in the world.
Now the robots are coining into
our back yard, with the recent
signing of an agreement between
the pioneering dairy-robot com
pany, Gascoigne-Mellotte, and the
University of Maryland. A
research robotic milking setup is
reportedly to be in place by the
end of the year for use with the
University’s 150-head milking
herd at Clarksville, Maryland, just
outside Washington, D.C.
I confess to being “udderly”
fascinated with this whole idea.
Computerization, of course, is
the foundation of the system.
Cows wear electronic identifica
tion, already a proven method in
today’s most ultramodern milking
and feeding systems. The compu
ter I.D. signals the unit to allow a
cow into the stall, supplies her
with an amount of feed dependent
on her production, and adjusts the
milking units to fit the cow’s
udder “arrangement”. It also sig
nals such things as body tempera
ture, flagging changes which
might signify sickness or repro
ductive cycling.
Udder area is automatically
washed and propped for milking
before what the engineers label
the “automatic cluster attacher”
fastens individual units to each
PUWNmjWE
teat. When milk flow ceases, auto
mation removes the robot milker
and disinfects it prior to use on the
next herdmate.
Like any other emerging tech
nology, there are undoubtedly
numerous “bugs” to work out of
the system.
How, I wonder, will it be
affected by a nervous newcomer
heifer shifting around and “danc
ing” at the unfamiliar feel of a
milking machine. Will there be
another robotic arm to soothingly
talk to her and gently pat her flank
until she feels comfortable with
the milking process?
We registered breeders striving
to put together good cow families
sometimes keep around a few
proven, pedigreed old cows with
udders lowered or perhaps tilted
with age, due to their ability to
produce outstanding offspring.
How much problem would be
posed by a less than perfect udder?
j Or how about a high-producing
.young cow that may have injured
|a quarter, but still milks well in the
i remaining three? Would that fit in
the robotic system?
i And what about those inevit
able high-strung gals, good pro
ducers and reproducers, which
'nevertheless let a foot fly and
remove the milkers themselves on
occasion? Could you afford a
back-up for breakage?
Speculation is that a unit might
run upwards of $90,000 and
would obviously be sensitive
equipment due to the nature of the
technology and mechanics. Can’t
you just imagine the potential end
result of a piece of equipment of
that cost and sensitivity when it
meets the I-mean-business end of
an irate 1,800-pound cow’s back
foot?
Despite the inevitable hurdles,
robot milkers will surely become
part of the future dairy business,
as routine someday as the once
gee-whiz technologies of artificial
insemination and embryo transfer.
Yes, indeed, the robots are
coming.
But I’m not going to start study
ing the help-wanteds just yet
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'Search For Spring’
At State Museum
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
“SEARCH FOR SPRING’’ is a
new program blossoming at The
State MtisfeAm on Sunday, March
11 from 1-4 P.M. This festival of
esteemed guests and activities
highlights the emerging wonders
of nature. Museum visitors will
see and hear "spring” everywhere.
Planned by The Public Services
Staff and sponsored by The
Friends of The State Museum, all
activities are free.
The Barolk Folk will provide
sounds of spring with their vibrant
repertory of traditional music per
formed on hammer dulcimer,
recorder, viol, guitar and piano.
Terry Maclay of Nature’s Har
mony will share the sweet pungent
smells of spring herbs and provide
visitor’s with a spring tonic for
tasting. Nan Keenen with her
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717-538-5521
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PAUL R. JACKSON
Troy, PA 16947
717-297-3872
interpretations for the Victorian
Art ofFlorigraphy will invite visi
tors to paint a “Meadow Mural,”
hear a fable about the gifts of
spring, and solve “Flower
Riddles.”
Gene Wengert, a science spe
cialist at Cumberland Valley High
School, will show slides and bring
animal friends. Audubon Society
representative Mary Herrold will
assist visitors with bird
identification.
Dr. Curtis Barnet and Miriam
Meyers, licensed animal rehabili
tates, will bring recovering wild
life and discuss their role in
returning these animals to the
natural habitat Members of the
Penn-Cumberiand Garden Club
will encourage visitors to sign
“The Green Pledge” and consider
other ways of conserving our
natural resources.
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MARYLAND
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NEW JERSEY
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