Automation Is Key to Getting More Out of Your Milking Parlor
GEA Farm Technologies shares several new automation tools it’s developed to help dairies produce the highest quality milk at the lowest possible cost.
More than ever before, dairies need to produce the highest quality milk at the lowest possible cost per cwt. -- and automation in the parlor is key to doing that, GEA Farm Technologies President and CEO Matt Daley said Tuesday at the Elite Producer Business Conference in Las Vegas.
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| GEA’s Apollo™MilkSystem automatically applies post-dip within the milking unit just prior to unit removal. |
Automation can help producers reduce labor and other input costs, make it easier for operators to do their jobs and milk more cows faster, Daley said. It can also help dairies harvest a higher quality product.
Daley shared several of the new automation technologies the company has developed to help producers guarantee consistency, remove human error and improve efficiency.
Among them is GEA’s Apollo™MilkSystem, which automatically applies post-dip within the milking unit just prior to unit removal. It also automatically backflushes the unit between cows. The Apollo system uses the IQ Milking Unit (4-chambered unit) that stabilizes vacuum levels to optimize the milking session. Its safety valve (block-bleed-block) is AMDERC (Atlantic-Midwest Dairy Equipment Review Committee) approved and therefore FDA and State Inspector accepted.
The Apollo offers several advantages, Daley said:
• Less labor is required when post-dipping is automated.
• Operators can focus solely on properly prepping cows.
• Operators are more efficient, so throughput can increase.
• Operators are also less stressed in the parlor.
• Automated backflush reduces the risk of mastitis.
• Automated post-dipping ensures every teat on every cow is properly dipped – even on the third shift when managers may not be around.
Other GEA automation systems include FutureCow™ Prep System, CowScout™, and MIone Multi-Box Robotic Milking System. For more information on FutureCowT Prep System, click here.
Watch a video on GEA Farm Technologies' MIone Multi-Box Automatic Milking System here.
Learn more here on CowScout (TM) Activity Monitoring System.
For a video of how GEA’s new DairyProQ automated milking carousel works, click here.
