Rising Prices, Failing Farms. The Strange Story Of, milk
UK - As cow 777 passes from the herd, nudged by an automated gate into the milking parlour at Kemble Farms, the signal from the transponder in the bracelet on her foreleg is read by the Cotswold estate's computer. The cow is identified and logged in while she files down the stalls. When 777 enters the empty berth at the end of the line the bar opens for the cow behind, so the stalls fill up without the need for human intervention. In the pit below, three eastern European workers move quietly up the lines attaching automatic milking teats to 36 sets of udders at a time.
24 April 2007
2 minute read
As 777's udders empty and the milk stops pumping, sensors in the machine detect the interruption to the flow and water is forced automatically back up the pipes to clean cow and equipment. Then the teats pop off by themselves, leaving 777 to exit back to the shed.
Kemble Farms is one of the most efficient dairy operations in the country. The cows give so much milk they are emptied three times a day. Yields are typically 9,000 litres per cow per year, not the highest known since some farms have now broken the 10,000-litre barrier, but a long way above average and spectacular compared with a decade ago, when average yields were nearer 5,000 litres per cow. Thirty years earlier, average yields were 3,500 litres.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
