DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC MILKING AND FEEDING

To investigate the feasibility of implementing a completely automated milking and feeding under typical dairy farm conditions, a prototype f ully integrated system was designed and installed at an experimental f arm. The barn had the following sections: a feeding area, a lying area , and an automatic milking system area. The automatic milking system i ncluded a milking stall with a robot for automated attachment of the m ilking cluster and two selection units. Concentrates can be fed in the milking stall as well as in the selection units. Cows enter the autom atic milking system from the lying area through one of the two selecti on units and can be sent to the milking stall or to the feeding area. In the milking stall, cows are milked automatically by the milking rob ot. In the feeding area, an automated feeding system is available, in which the individual forage intake of cows can be controlled and measu red. The process control can be divided into three groups: robot contr ol, cow traffic control, and management control. The system offers muc h flexibility with regard to the milking frequency, cow traffic, and f eed allocation. The system was used for 7 months with a one-way cow ro uting and an average of 79 planned milkings per day. Many data were co llected automatically and could immediately be utilized for on-line de cisions. Although many questions still have to be answered, the system proved to be flexible enough to allow automatic milking and feeding w ith much variation in milking frequency, feedstuff allocation, and cow traffic.