New robotic milking technology is promising to completing redesign farm layout and change farmer attitude.

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The Dexcel Greenfield Project, senior scientist Murray Woolford told the South Island Dairy Event, should be commercially viable within a few years, 


Woolford explained that the new system being trialled is unique in that it is designed around a total farm, all-grass management system. It can also handle large numbers of cows, with large herds requiring several units strategically located around the farm.


Furthermore, the project is built around the concept of 24-hour-a-day milking, and enables the cows to choose when and how often they are milked.


Automated milking is more than simply putting cups on cows’ teats, Woolford said, adding that Dexcel’s technology requires no human intervention.

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The system sees cows push through no-return gates to drink at a centrally located drinking-water source. Once in this area, they are channelled into the milking parlour where a robot attaches cups to collect milk. Then they are channelled back out to the grass.


In a trial of Dexcel’s prototype system, on its Newstead research farm, Woolford said that the cows learnt the how to negotiate the channels within a week, and would stand quietly while the robot milked them.


Such a system, Woolford, would enable farmers to significantly reduce labour costs and time. Labour is currently a significant problem on NZ dairy farms, as 25,000 people are needed to milk the nation’s dairy cows, on average twice a day. This, said Woolford, adds up to 1.5 billion individual cow milking session each season at a cost of around NZ$230m (US$111.6m).