It used to be that Elsie the Cow would let down her milk to only those she liked.
Today, that ?person? may be a robot. And sadly, or not, Elsie could care less, and in fact, prefers the robotic interaction, which proves less stressful.
From milking by hand in the 1920s to the dawn of robot milking machines, dairy has been an important industry in the local region.
Kansas ranks 16th in milk production in the United States, Stephanie Eckroat, executive director of the Kansas Dairy Association and Kansas Dairy Commission, told a crowd of about 25 gathered to hear a program on the dairy industry at the Iola Public Library Tuesday. The industry contributes about $1.3 billion annually to the state?s economy.
Most of the state?s 160,000 dairy cows ? 80 to 85 percent ? live on 29 large dairies in Western Kansas.
But it was Eckroat?s presentation on different types of milking processes and future technology that stirred the crowd the most.
?A lot of people say hand-milking is the way to go, but I can tell you, it?s not,? Eckroat laughed.
Hand-milking may have been the standard since humans first discovered the benefits of cow?s milk, but technology has improved efficiency and production. Anyone who grew up with dairy cows knows how time-consuming it can be to milk cows, even with more advanced systems to ease the process. Milking often means getting up before dawn and working well into the evening hours, facing off against unruly cows.
One audience member relayed, ?My two oldest boys learned to run the milking machines, and one says he?s in therapy because milk cows are evil creatures.?
Eckroat, a graduate of Crest High School and Allen Community College who now lives in Hays, asked the audience, ?How many ball games did you miss because you had to be at home to milk the cows?? Several hands raised, amid chuckles.
Some dairies have switched to technology like a rotary carousel, a large circular system that allows cows to enter and rotates so they are cleaned, milked and fed.
But robot milkers are the wave of the future, Eckroat said. Cows enter the milking area and typically wear a transponder that sends data to the computer system. The robot is programmed to recognize the cow and will clean its udders. Lasers find her nipples and attach pumps that go to work while the cow chews her cud. The computer scans her milk for bacteria or other issues, and notes possible problems with the cow?s health, reproductive cycle or other reason for a lack of production.
The setup allows the dairy farmer to sleep through the 4 a.m. milking. If there?s a problem, the system will send an alert to his cell phone.
?Some say, oh you?re taking jobs away from people. People don?t want to work this way anymore,? Eckroat said. ?It?s less stress for the cows. They come and go as they please. They get fed. They?re more calm. They give more milk. They have less human interaction and less stress.?
The systems are expensive, though, with an estimated cost of about $250,000 per unit. Only a handful of dairies in Kansas use robotic milkers, but one dairy in Liberal plans to build a rotary carousel with 150 robots.
?It?s the wave of the future for dairy,? Eckroat said. ?It?s pretty interesting to watch them. The cows are content and they do really well.?
