Whether it was a small farm or a large farming company, cows had been getting milked by hand for thousands of years. Did you know that if a farmer has a few dozen cows, it can take almost all day to milk them? Unfortunately, this process is time-consuming and a laborious job. An important thing to understand is that corporate farms are referred to as plantations and concentrate their efforts on growing a single crop which they refer to as monoculture. Small family farms operate by using crop diversification and crop rotation by using only the methods that are earth friendly. Throughout this article by Jmor Technology, I talk about how cows got milked in the past and how many are choosing to implement AI on their farms to aid in this process.
The Invention of the Hygienic Glove Milker
Did you know that in 1879, Anna Baldwen, a New Jersey Farmer invented and patented the first mechanical milking machine? Typically, the cows were brought into a barn by hand one by one and milked by a farmer, and some were lucky enough to have a few staff helpers. Anna called her invention the Hygienic Glove Milker, which consisted of a hand pump connected to a container with rubber cups to fit on a cow's teats. Later, they replaced the manual pump with an electric pump, making the process more efficient. Did you know the first cow milking machine ranged from $758.00 to about $3400.00? Unfortunately, these machines were heavy and thus hard to transport. The Milker was usually sitting on a bench near the side of a cow to make it more comfortable and mitigate the cow from knocking into the person.
Milking Routine
A Typical farm will milk its cows about two times a day, and each cow will produce about six-seven gallons of milk daily. Most farmers will have their cows milked at 4 AM, have breakfast, then again at 4 PM, the same time each day. An interesting fact is that cows that have not been milked have pressure on their udders, and thus they are happy to cooperate to get milked.
AI Methods of Diary Production
Did you know they did it by hand into a metal pale when cow milking started? Later, they used a system to mechanically milk the cows and send them via pipes to a retention tank on the premises. Another essential thing to note is that she must have given birth to her first calf before any femal cow will produce milk. A Cow’s pregnancy lasts about nine months and can only produce milk after giving birth. The Quantity of milk from the cow will decrease about ten months after her calving and will go through what is called a drying period when 12-14 after.
Automated Milking Systems and AI Integration
Farmers and many large dairies are turning to AI to help them milk their cows. The process is more than just mechanical but much more advanced. The new technology is AMS (Automated Milking Systems), which incorporates sensors and algorithms that help perform the milking, monitor the cow’s health, and ensure a more hygienic process. They use AI to give farmers actionable steps to help yield more but also a higher quality of milk. Generally, dairies want milk that is 4% butterfat and about 2% protein, and the AMS makes their operation more efficient.
Two AI Systems For Cow Milking
There are two main types of AI for Cow Milking Systems. One would be a unit that moves around automatically to visit each stall on a preset schedule. Another type is a unit that the cows see when they want, and they call it a VMS, not a virtual machine that runs an operating system but a voluntary milking system. Depending on the size of the farm, there could be one or more of these devices, but the key difference is that the VMS allows the cow to come and get milked when she wants to.
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How does AI Cow milking work?
Simple with the VMS, the cow visits the unit, and the tag is read via RFID, and the cow, once recognized, is granted access, providing it has not been milked too much for that day. Once the tag is read, the gate is opened to allow the cow to access the milking station.
Next, the feed manager automatically adjusts the cow’s height, and dispenses feed during milking. Then the teaths are cleaned individually and automatically via a robot arm with a special teath preparation cup before the milking process starts. The cleaning process involves spraying warm water into the attached cup and air drying. The entire process only takes a few seconds per teath to sanitize properly.
Did you know they even have a laser sensor to ensure the robot places the cup on the teath precisely with the most comfort every time? Since the sanitization cup has its tube, the pre-milk and any dirt from the cleaning never come in contact with the main milking line. These systems are gentle, fast, powerful, and consistent in the way cows want. Milk is being tested to ensure the highest level of health, and any milk below standards is immediately redirected to the waste tank. If the system detects any output loss per teath, the system retracts the cup and reinserts it so milking can continue smoothly.
Ensuring the highest level of hygiene is paramount, and thus all cups are rinsed inside and out between each cow milking and left face down so they can drain after they have been air dried. After milking, the system sprays a disinfectant on the teaths to ensure they stay healthy. After the cow exists, the system sprays water to clean the floor. Thus, AI on Farms is helping cows get milked with the highest milk quality and even larger volumes.
Did you know a cow farm's three most important things are reproduction, excellent udder health, and the correct feed balance? Keeping track of all this is more than a handful for small farmers and even some large ones, and if something needs to be fixed, it will affect the farm's ability to make revenue from milk.
Dairy Reproduction Strategies and AI-Driven Insights
Since farms that milk cows are running a business, they are concerned with not only the health of their cows and well as the status, such as: when the cow is in heat, when the cow is pregnant, and the quality of the milk coming from the cows. With AI, farmers can now monitor the level of progesterone in the milk directly, and they know that when it dips below five nanograms, the cow in 48 hours will be at the ideal time for conception. Remember, if the cow is not producing offspring, she will not be able to give milk after about the 11th month from the last birth. Thus, they use the data obtained during milkings to manage their herd and keep them all milking because if they miss it, a while may have to pass before a successful conception.
A cow will typically be in heat and at the ideal time for conception, once every 18-24 days, which averages out to about 21 days in a non-pregnant cow and will only last for 14-15 hours. In other words, she has about 80 days to become pregnant after calving if birth is to happen within the next 12 months. Understanding this, the farmers have two options to let the cow mingle with the bull cows to become pregnant or to inseminate the cow manually. Again, if nature doesn’t take its course, it must take measures to ensure the cow has a birth, or she will no longer produce milk.
Final Words
AI for farming will not only allow the farmers to manage their herds more efficiently but keep the cows comfortable during the milkings and ensure the healthiest, highest quality of milk is received from the cows. Farmers are using not only their computers to check in on important stats of their cows but also tablets and, very often, their smartphones. The most important thing is it is working, and the cows seem to prefer it to manual or parlor milking.