Researchers Look at Robotics and Farming

Sunday, July 14th, 2024 -- 9:00 AM

(Mackenzie Krumme, Wisconsin Public Radio) Last month, south central Wisconsin became the site of a national research hub into the dairy industry.

According to Mackenzie Krumme with Wisconsin Public Radio, in Prairie du Sac, a team of scientists and researchers broke ground on a $55-million facility with 18 buildings on 42 acres.

Expected to open in 2027, leaders of the facility hope to modernize dairy research practices, including units specifically dedicated to robotics. Dennis Hancock is center director at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center, which will administer the new facility in partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

He said part of the decline in Wisconsin dairy farms can be attributed to workforce shortage and a possible solution is replacing some of the workforce with technology. Wisconsin lost roughly 30 percent of its dairy farms from 2017 to 2022, according to recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture.

One of the most common examples of labor-saving technology in the dairy industry is automated milking systems, something the research center hopes to study further. Automated milking systems use sensors that collect information such as health or milk production.

The sensors also determine when the cow is ready to be milked and open the milking stall for the animal. Before milking, robots clean each cow’s teats and attach milking cups. Data on the yield and quality of the milk is collected during each milking.

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