Our Year 7/8 Collaborative Coding science elective class were fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to visit Phil and Symone Vine’s robotic dairy to see world class robotic technology operating in a regional dairy business. Phil and Symone explained that the 250 cows on this 250ac farm were milked by 4 robots and that the cows effectively wore ’Fitbits’ that relayed information about their activity including rumination, whether on they were on heat or health indicators such as a decline in activity. The Vines have four calvings a year with cows, who produced 692kg milk solids (MS) last year, voluntarily walking to the dairy 2.3 times a day. The free range cows are directed into different grazing blocks, A,B,C with the option to send them to the large shed, D, during hot or inclement weather. Students learnt that production had increased by 25% and vet bills had declined as the information gained from the cow collars and robots alerted the Vines to early potential problems such as mastitis, lameness, illness or inactivity as well as drafting cows for mating or preventing health issues. Labour was a big saving with 8.30am starts, 5.30pm finishes and lots of flexibility but Phil could be alerted by a phone call for an emergency or alert 24/7. A robot costs roughly correlate to a labour unit a year and the Vines’ cows are definitely pretty cruisey about their robotic milkers. Any takers for a STEM career in this innovative new field? Comments are closed.
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April 2024
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