A farmer, rising at 4 a.m., begins his daily routine, bringing the cows in from the grazing fields to be milked—once in the early morning, once in the afternoon. The milk truck comes at the same time each day, to collect the day's take—winter, spring, summer, fall, 24/7—until the farmer eventually gets too old and turns the business over to his son, who continues where his father left off.

The cows, accustomed to the routine, shuffle mindlessly into their respective stalls, clocking in like the proletariat, do their jobs, and clock out only to repeat these actions again and again, day in and day out, yadda, yadda, yadda.

In the corporate world, a great deal has been done to increase employee productivity. Innovations such as ergo-nomic workstations, telecommuting, and casual Friday, have all attempted to make the workplace safer, more comfortable, and, subsequently, more productive.

However, this concept has not generally spilled over into the business of producing milk, in which routine is still the order of the day.

Large dairy farms worldwide have used milking machinery for many years. These milking systems must be applied to the cows by hand, and all milk is channeled through a piping system to collect in homogenization and pasteurization tanks.

Research at the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research in Madison suggests that sanitary regulations and social concerns for animal and environmental welfare in several countries, mostly in Europe, have resulted in a growing demand for self-cleaning robotic milking systems to ensure that milk containing unhealthy bacteria does not reach the bulk tank.

Similar research at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, suggests that cows milked voluntarily can be milked more often, thus increasing their production.
One would hardly think that a cow could volunteer to be milked, but new technology continues to develop that lets cows be milked more often when they are ready to give.

The Voluntary Milking System, or VMS, developed by DeLaval International AB of Tumba, Sweden, uses computer-aided engineering techniques and pneumatic robotic arms from Norgren AB of Malmö, Sweden, to allow cows to give milk whenever they are ready, whether it be morning, noon, or night.

Ken Olsson, product manager at Norgren for the milking system, said, "Cows that are milked only twice a day will not produce as much as those milked more often." While this may sound obvious, Olsson explained that, if a cow has to wait until morning, for example, but is ready to give milk in the middle of the night, pressure builds up in her udder, making her uncomfortable, and unable to produce milk. "With the VMS, she can be milked any time she is ready, and the farmer doesn't even have to wake from his sleep," Olsson said.

With the use of a VMS, dairy farmers can increase a cow's milk production by allowing her to be milked whenever she is ready. In addition, the system analyzes milk for quality assurance.

Olsson described the system as natural. A cow is outfitted with an identification tag that is scanned when she attempts to enter the milking station, where food is placed as an incentive. A computer analyzes how much milk she gave on her last visit and when that visit occurred, to determine if she can be milked. If the cow is deemed ready, a gate will open, allowing her to enter. Additional data contained on her tag allow the pneumatic arms to adjust to her specific contours to make her as comfortable as possible.

Once milking begins, the computer analyzes the milk and searches for any contaminants. If bacteria or other irregularities are detected, a computer alert is sent out before the milk reaches a central tank.

At the end of the milking process, the VMS cleans the cow's teats and udder, and also cleans itself, preparing for the next cow to enter. Olsson emphasized that this procedure is all done automatically without any manual labor on the part of the farmer, his family, or staff.

"The system hasn't been perfected yet, but it meets most European standards and is being widely used in Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and Germany, as well as in Japan," Olsson said. "We expect that in coming years, as young people in America inherit their families' farms, the system will prove to be useful in the United States as well."

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