{"id":134978,"date":"2018-06-26T07:28:48","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T11:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=134978"},"modified":"2018-07-02T16:52:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T20:52:45","slug":"remarkable-new-technology-remarkable-herd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/06\/remarkable-new-technology-remarkable-herd\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Relies on Robots at Milking Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having cows right on campus is one of the things that makes UConn special. It&#8217;s the high quality milk produced by those cows that is the main ingredient in the ever-popular UConn Dairy Bar ice cream. In fact, UConn\u2019s herd is ranked in the top 20 of more than 37,000 dairy herds nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>In keeping with these high standards,\u00a0UConn is now one of the first universities in the United States to adopt the most technologically advanced way of managing and studying a dairy herd: two new robots have been introduced to the herd that enable the cows to choose when to be milked.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"grey-sidebar floating-sidebar col-xs-12 col-sm-4\">\n<p style=\"font-family: 'Proxima Nova',sans-serif; !important;font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;\">With each of the more than 80 cows equipped with a smart device gathering data 24 hours a day, the new milking system means a flood of data that begins flowing as soon as the milk does.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: 'Proxima Nova',sans-serif; !important;font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;\">All of these data need management, analysis, and interpretation; and that is where UConn Engineering comes in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: 'Proxima Nova',sans-serif; !important;font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe are working to figure out how we are going to use the data, how we analyze it and start making predictions with it,\u201d says Matthew Stuber, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: 'Proxima Nova',sans-serif; !important;font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;\">Data on the cow\u2019s movement \u2013 or lack of movement\u00a0\u2013 can be an indicator of health; data on milk quality can indicate what kind of grain is best for a particular cow; and data on the amount of milk produced by each cow, are just a few examples of the data and how they might be used.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: 'Proxima Nova',sans-serif; !important;font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400;\">In looking at the data, the engineers hope to develop ways to predict exactly how to optimize tailored conditions for the cows, and achieve better outcomes for the facility overall.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The new voluntary milking system will change the day-to-day lives of the herd. Previously, each cow was milked three times a day, at the same time every day. When the cows were ready to be milked, they got noisy, says Steve Zinn, department head and professor of animal science in the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a different atmosphere in facilities with voluntary milking systems. Since the cows are milked on demand around the clock, they are generally quiet and calm, and spend a lot of the time lying down relaxing.<\/p>\n<p>When ready for milking, the cow walks to the robot, which starts each visit by washing the cow&#8217;s udders before attaching four separate milking units \u2013 one to each of the four teats, or &#8216;quarters.&#8217; If one quarter finishes milking before the others, that quarter\u2019s machine will stop and be removed, which is likely more comfortable for the cow, while the other quarters finish being milked.<\/p>\n<p>After six to eight minutes, and after around 30-50 pounds of milk has been collected, the milking units detach and the cow walks away from the robot. With the new system, each cow is expected to visit the robots voluntarily one to four times a day.<\/p>\n<p>The voluntary milking system also provides new research opportunities for UConn. Each cow will be wearing a smart device that will continuously collect data on various facets of the cows&#8217; behavior, such as their movement, how often they are milked, and how much they produce, among many other things.<\/p>\n<p>Besides potentially boosting milk production, the new system is expected to facilitate the collection of data and also reduce water usage. Since the robots are taking care of the milking, Zinn says, this leaves caretakers more time for managing the whole cow, and researchers more time for new and innovative research.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New technology milks UConn&#8217;s cows on demand around the clock, generating research data and another outcome. They are generally quiet and spend a lot of the time lying down relaxing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":139121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2093,1924],"class_list":["post-134978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","post_format-post-format-video"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 12:57:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134978"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135937,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134978\/revisions\/135937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/139121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134978"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=134978"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=134978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}