Review: Milking robot utilization, a successful precision livestock farming evolution

Abstract

Automatic milking systems (AMS), one of the earliest precision livestock farming developments, have revolutionized dairy farming around the world. While robots control the milking process, there have also been numerous changes to how the whole farm system is managed. Milking is no longer performed in defined sessions; rather, the cow can now choose when to be milked in AMS, allowing milking to be distributed throughout a 24 h period. Despite this ability, there has been little attention given to milking robot utilization across 24 h. In order to formulate relevant research questions and improve farm AMS management there is a need to determine the current knowledge gaps regarding the distribution of robot utilization. Feed, animal and management factors and their interplay on levels of milking robot utilization across 24 h for both indoor and pasture-based systems are here reviewed. The impact of the timing, type and quantity of feed offered and their interaction with the distance of feed from the parlour; herd social dynamics, climate and various other management factors on robot utilization through 24 h are provided. This novel review draws together both the opportunities and challenges that exist for farm management to use these factors to improved system efficiency and those that exist for further research.Keywords: automatic milking system, feeding behaviour, robot idle time, grazing, PLF (precision livestock farming) ImplicationsMilking robots have revolutionized the dairy industry with farmers achieving high levels of robot utilization obtaining greater returns on asset. The first installations were typically associated with 'indoor' systems and nearby grazing fields. Nowadays there is an increasing interest regarding the integration of robots into larger scale pasture-based dairy systems. This review explores the published literature on both 'indoor' and 'pasture-based' dairy systems in relation to milking robot utilization. IntroductionRobotic milking systems have revolutionized the dairy industry. The first dairy cow was milked, more or less without traditional human involvement, in 1986 with a robotic milking box at the experimental farm de Waiboerhoeve, Lelystad, the Netherlands by Gascoigne Melotte, following the US Patent 4010714A (Notsuki and Ueno, 1977). A system from the company Prolion was installed on the experimental farm IMAG-DLO Duiven, the Netherlands, in 1990 and on a commercial dairy in 1992. More institutes and companies became active in the development of robotic milking systems in the nineties as described by Kuipers and Rossing (1996). Since that time until 2011, automatic milking systems (AMS) have been installed on over 10 000 farms worldwide (de Koning, 2011). These installations are predominantly for 'indoor' systems where cows are generally 'housed' in barns and offered a partial mixed ration (PMR) in the feeding alley and grain-based concentrate supplement either in the milking unit or in a nearby concentrate self-feeder. While there have been numerous AMS installations in indoo...

The effect of concentrate allocation on traffic and milk production of pasture-based cows milked by an automatic milking system

“…In our study, higher pasture nutritional values were observed compared with those reported by McEvoy et al (2008), Bargo et al (2002) and Pérez-Prieto et al (2011), promoting higher pasture intake and lower grass to concentrate substitution rate. The negative MR observed in May presumed a low substitution rate and could be explained by the high WSC content of spring pasture promoting increase in pasture intake and in MY, which is in accordance with other authors (Peyraud and Delagarde, 2013;John et al, 2016).…”

“…The cause of the higher frequency of night visits in May is unclear. Weather conditions influenced milking and refusal schedules, with a reduction of robot visitations to the robot during hot period (1200 to 1600 h) in July and August with visit schedules moving to periods 1600 to 0000 h. This observation is in accordance with other studies ( Ketelaar-de Lauwere et al, 2000;John et al, 2016). Although the majority of milkings (56% in LC and 50% in HC) occurred within periods of new pasture allocation corresponding to changing gates (from 0800 to 1200 h and from 1600 to 2000 h), HC came more regularly to the robot than LC.…”

“…Milkings and refusals distribution time over the grazing period As described in other studies (Ketelaar-de Lauwere et al, 1999;John et al, 2016), fewer visits occurred at night. May recorded the highest number of robot visitations from 0000 to 0400 h, although visits at that time period remained uncommon (<10% of total milkings and <5% of total refusals).…”

“…According to de Koning (2011), around 8000 farms in 25 countries worldwide are equipped with a robot. In parallel, the interest for combining robotic milking with grazing has increased (Lyons et al, 2013a;John et al, 2016). Grazing has several advantages with the most frequently cited ones including benefits for animal health (Burow et al, 2011) and for the environment (Peyraud and Delagarde, 2013) which are positively perceived by the consumers (De Olde et al, 2016).…”

Editorial: Precision livestock farming: a ‘per animal’ approach using advanced monitoring technologies

“…Simulation-optimisation based on animal behaviour was developed for robotic milking farms at the beginning of this century (Halachmi, 2004). In this PLF issue, John et al (2016) review the utilisation of robots after a farm was designed and a robot operated. They also review the robot milking-pasture combination.…”