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Douglas J. ReinemannAssociate Dean: Extension and OutreachProfessor: Biological Systems Engineering

Director: Milking Research and Instruction Lab

100 Years of Milking:From Buckets to Robots

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Hand Milking 1880-1920

• 4 cows milked/hr

• 8 cows/farm

• 40 acres with ¼ to feed Horses

• ½ of US population lives on Farms– 12M farm workers in 1915, 1M in 2015

• Life Expectancy 54 yrs

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Make hay while the sun shines

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Bucket Milking

• 10 cows/hr• 20 cows/ farm• 80 Acres• Tractors! Well-Water Milk Cooling

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What came first?

Pipeline Milking• 30 cows/hour = 60 cows = 240 acres• Classic Red barn and Silos• Milking Ergonomics

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Parlor Milking

• 50 – 150 cows/hour • Hired milking labor• Cows Step up• Milking Ergonomics• Semi-Automated

Count the rings on the tree

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Rotary Milking ParlorsCows move people stand still

100+ cows/person/hour – highly repetitive work

Multiple Barns with Large Parlor(s)

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Growth in Robotic MilkingWorld and US Growth rate has been EXPONENTIAL!!

300+ Farms in US 500+ in Canada

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Robotic Milking: Single Box Systems 50-70 Cows per box“Family Farm” = 4-8 boxes 200 - 500 cows

Robotic Milking

Machine

Robots (and Cows) on Pasture

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DeLaval Automatic Milking Rotary™ (AMR™)24 stalls - 5 arms Cows Rotate, Arms StationaryBatch or voluntary milking

GEA Dairy Pro-Q Rotary Robotic Parlor1 arm per stall Arms rotate with cowsBatch Milking 1 Operator Monitoring Operations

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Manage by Pen or by Cow

The Future?Small Farms with Robotic BoxesLarge Farms with Robotic Boxes

Large farms with Robotic Rotaries

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Future Scenario:Fixed arm rotary

Prep & Attach Zone

Post Dip Zone

What could possibly go wrong?

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Future ScenariosCows / arm

Cows / milking labor

unit

Feed Management

Milking Management

Small Farm - 150 Individual Cow Fixed Interval

Big Farm - 250 Pen Fixed Interval

Robotic Box 60

70

240

480Individual Cow

Variable Interval Unattended

Robotic Rotary Stationary

arms

150

225

250

1000

Individual Cow

Pen

Variable IntervalUnattended

Fixed Interval Attended

Robotic Rotary Moving arms

15

401000 Pen

Fixed Interval Attended

Agricultural Economy in Wisconsin

• 12% of employment• 11% of total income• 16% of industrial sales• Relative importance of agriculture has

diminished as service sector employment has grown

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Market Sector Trends• Strength and Growing – Butter – Dry dairy products – Meat

• Strength & Declining – Cheese

• Weak & Declining– Fluid milk– Ice cream

It’s a World Market

UW Center for Dairy ProfitabilityMark Stephenson, PhDDirector of Dairy Policy Analysis

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Sustained Growth Needs Exports!

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

12MonthRollingAverageTradeasaPercentofSolidsProduced

Exports

Imports

$10

$12

$14

$16

$18

$20

$22

$24

$26

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

Exports&AllMilkPrice

Exports

The Importance of Trade

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0

25,000

50,000

75,000

100,000

125,000

150,000

175,000

200,000

1885

1953

1969

1974

1980

1985

1990

1995

2011

2018

WISCONSIN DAIRY FARMS

1910: 11M US farm workers 2015: 1M US farm workers2008: 14,000 WI hired farm workers

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Shares of cows per size classesDistribution in IFCN standard classes 1996-2014

Herd size change 1996-2014: 2.0 — 1.7 9.0 — 22 72 — 182

Annual %-change in farm number: 2.8% -2.3% -3.4%

Brazil USAIndia

IFCN Projected World milk production growth through 2025Absolute and % change in milk volumes 2025 vs 2014 mill t ECM

ECM- Energy Corrected Milk; 4% fat, 3.3% protein

Africa43%

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High Impact Trend!

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

22,000

24,000

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Pounds ofMilkperCowperYear

Very linear—about 284 pounds per cow per year

Number of Cows

8900

9000

9100

9200

9300

9400

9500

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

U.S.NumberofCows

UW Center for Dairy ProfitabilityMark Stephenson, PhD, Director of Dairy Policy Analysis

A good cow in 1936(8,000 lb/yr, 3600 kg/yr)

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Land Value Pressure on Traditional Dairy Areas

Farms Entering the Information Age

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The Immigrant Labor Situation

Hired Labor Rate $13.30 up 10% in last 5 years

Future ScenariosCows /

armCows /

milking labor unit

Feed Management

Milking Management

Small Farm - 150 Individual Cow Fixed Interval

Big Farm - 250 Pen Fixed Interval

Robotic Box 60

70

240

480Individual Cow

Variable Interval Unattended

Rotary Stationary

arms

150

225

250

1000

Individual Cow

Pen

Variable IntervalUnattended

Fixed Interval Attended

Rotary Moving arms

15

401000 Pen

Fixed Interval

Attended

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Cost of Milk Production: Wisconsin • Cost of Production

$27 /cwt• Value of Production

$19 /cwt• COP-VOP

-$8 /cwt

• COP – Operating Cost$3.2 /cwt

• Robotic Milking– Increased Capital cost – Modest decrease in hired labor

• Shift to higher skilled jobs

– Must have increased productivity to be viable

• More milk per cow • Better cow health and longevity• Reduced vet cost, labor turnover

The Cows Appear to Like Them

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Douglas J. ReinemannAssociate Dean: Extension and OutreachProfessor: Biological Systems Engineering

Director: Milking Research and Instruction Lab

100 Years of Milking:From Buckets to Robots