I don’t know if I would have ever called milking cows “interesting”. Today, however, I had the privilege to visit the Milking Parlor of the Rea Family Farm. You wouldn’t guess it, but behind a large sheet metal barn, which blends inconspicuously amongst the dozen others around, stands an incredibly detailed and expansive piece of farming technology. Cow Milking and Technology may seem to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum, but I can assure you they have never been closer friends then now.
Inside theRea Family barn stands a nearly-automated Milking Parlor. In groups of twenty-four split into two aisles, the dairy cows file in and stop in front of an automated feeder. The farmer connects the teat-cups to the cow, and the milk is drawn away into a separate chamber for storage. While this all seems rather standard, it becomes less so when you notice the collar around each cow’s neck.
This collar is less a fashion statement and more a sophisticated tracking device. As each animal walks through what they call “the curtain”, a computer reads the chip’s information and informs the parlor how to react to each cow. Depending on how much milk they give, for example, the chip dictates how much high-quality feed each cow receives. This feed is automatically separated and dropped to the cow via a chute along the ceiling. Each chip contains detailed information on each cow and their milking habits like a living record.
In this way, dairy farmers are able to produce more milk with less animal stress. As someone who is used to seeing only Beef Cattle, the Parlor was particularly interesting to me. It was amazing too how well-suited the cows were to this advance in milking technology.