• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2009

The authors of this study have developed a robot milking system composed of a multi-articular manipulator, a teat-cup attachment system, and an image processing system. In order to verify the efficacy of this system, we have conducted a performance analysis and measurement experiment of milk yield, using dairy cattle. It was concluded that teat recognition using the image processing system, teat-cup attachment, and detachment system did not binder milking. The milking yield of the robot milking system was analyzed based on a lactation curve. As a result, it was determined that the use of a robot milking system had no significant effects on milking yields. The robot milking system described in this study is designed specifically with a focus on teat-cup attachment and detachment performance, as well as the effect of these factors on milking yield. In the future, in-depth studies regarding the washing of the teats prior to milking, teat massage, pre-treatment and post-treatment processes after milking, and disinfection processes shall be conducted, in order to render this system feasible for use in an actual milking parlor.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2000

A Robotic milking cluster system with the manipulator for an automatic milking system was designed and built for farmer to work easily and comfortably during milking processing. The cluster system was composed of screws, cams and links for power transmission, DC motors, the Quick Basic one-chip microprocessor, the vision system for image processing, and tea-cups. Software, written in Visual C+ and Quick Basic, combined the function of image capture, image processing, milking cluster control, and control into one control. The unit was made to transfer from four fixed points to four teats with four teat-cups. Performance tests of the cluster unit, the fully integrated system, were conducted to attach and detach the teat-cup on the teat of a artificial cow. The transfer programming provided for a teat-cup milking loop during the system starts and comes back the original fixed point at the manipulator of it for milking. It transferred the teat-cup with a success rate of more than 70%. The average time it took ot perform the milking loop was about 20 seconds.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.87-95
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• 1997

This study was peformed to compare work routine time and performance of milking systems by measuring motion and time in milking procedure. Data were collected from thirteen dairy farms among which milking was done by bucket in two farms, by pipelines in three, by tandem parlors in four including one remodeled side-opening, by herringborn parlors in three and by a parallel milking parlor. Recording time and motion for milking parlor. Recording time and motion for milking procedure was performed by stopwatch and notebook computer. Work routine elements were recorded and calculated into cows milked per-man-hour(CMPH). The results are as follows : Average milking time per cow(MTPC) in bucket and pipeline milking systems usually installed in cow stall were 442.7 and 395.8 seconds, respectively. And average CMPH of bucket and pipeline milking system were 144.5, 303.3, 272.5 and 380.3 seconds, respectively. And CMPH of tandem, herringbone, parallel and modified side-opening systems were 24.9, 11.9, 13.2 and 9.5 heads, respectively. CMPH was the highest in the tandem milking system and the lowest in the bucket milking facilities. CMPH, when milked in a parlor resulted in high value compared with bucket or pipeline milking systems installed in cow stable. They showed considerably low CMPH compared with the results of other countries. The reason why so low CMPH could be derived from type and mechanization of facilities and equipment, operator's ability, number of operator, idle time and milking procedure.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.587-591
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• 2014

Automatic milking systems (AMS) rely upon voluntary cow traffic (the voluntary movement of cattle around a farm) for milk harvesting and feed consumption. Previous research on conventional milking systems has shown differences between dairy cow breeds for intake and milk production, however, the ability to manipulate voluntary cow traffic and milking frequency on AMS farms through breed selection is unknown. This study investigated the effect of breed (Holstein Friesian versus Illawarra) on voluntary cow traffic as determined by gate passes at the Camden AMS research farm dairy facility. Daily data on days in milk, milk yield, gate passes and milking frequency for 158 Holstein Friesian cows and 24 Illawarra cows were collated by month for the 2007 and 2008 years. Illawarra cows had 9% more gate passes/day than Holstein cows over the duration of the study; however, the milking frequency and milk yield of both breeds were similar. Gate passes were greatest for both breeds in early lactation and in the winter (June to August) and summer (December to February) seasons. These findings highlight an opportunity to translate increased voluntary cow movement associated with breed selection into increased milking frequencies, milk production and overall pasture-based AMS performance.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2018

Chlorella are source of valuable compounds as lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, bioactive compounds. To continuous obtain the high-value materials of Chlorella protothecoides, we performed continuous cultivation after applying milking techniques to C. protothecoides grown with culture for 7 days in optical panel bioreactor (OPBR) system. Fatty acid and lutein in extracts from pre- and post-milking of C. protothecoides were analyzed using gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. C. protothecoides were rich in unsaturated fatty acids with a high content of oleic acid(C18:1), which is suitable as a biofuel feedstock. The fatty acid content in pre- and post-milking of C. protothecoides was decreased from 126.424mg/g d.w. to 119.341mg/g d.w, and the lutein content decreased from 0.258mg/g d.w. to 0.178mg/g d.w. The results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of milking C. protothecoides for production of lipids for biofuels production. It was confirmed that microalgae can continuously obtain lutein present in a trace amount through a continuous culture from milking.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.13.1-13.5
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• 2014

The production performance of multiparous lactating Sahiwal cows (n = 24) was evaluated according to both milking frequency and method. Selected animals were randomly divided into four groups containing six animals each under a completely randomized design. Cows in groups A & B were milked by the hand milking method three times per day, respectively. Similarly, cows in groups C & D were milked by the machine milking method two and three times per day, respectively. All animals were maintained under uniform feeding and management conditions. Dry matter intake was high in animal groups milked three times per day, and it remained unchanged between the hand and machine milking methods. Milk yield was higher (P < 0.05) in cows milked three times compared to those milked twice per day, and it did not differ between hand and machine milking methods. Milk fat percentage was higher (P < 0.05) in cows milked twice per day compared to those milked three times using both machine and hand milking methods. The percentage of total solids showed a similar pattern as the fat percentage. However, percentages of protein, lactose, and non-fat solids in milk were not significantly different (P > 0.05) among the treatment groups. Collectively, the results show that milking three times per day instead of twice at 8-hour intervals can enhance milk yield in Sahiwal cows using both hand and machine milking methods.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.408-415
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• 2020

Objective: The aim of the paper was to compare the fit of data derived from daily automatic milking systems (AMS) and monthly test-day records with the use of lactation curves; data was analysed separately for primiparas and multiparas. Methods: The study was carried out on three Polish Holstein-Friesians (PHF) dairy herds. The farms were equipped with an automatic milking system which provided information on milking performance throughout lactation. Once a month cows were also subjected to test-day milkings (method A4). Most studies described in the literature are based on test-day data; therefore, we aimed to compare models based on both test-day and AMS data to determine which mathematical model (Wood or Wilmink) would be the better fit. Results: Results show that lactation curves constructed from data derived from the AMS were better adjusted to the actual milk yield (MY) data regardless of the lactation number and model. Also, we found that the Wilmink model may be a better fit for modelling the lactation curve of PHF cows milked by an AMS as it had the lowest values of Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion, mean square error, the highest coefficient of determination values, and was more accurate in estimating MY than the Wood model. Although both models underestimated peak MY, mean, and total MY, the Wilmink model was closer to the real values. Conclusion: Models of lactation curves may have an economic impact and may be helpful in terms of herd management and decision-making as they assist in forecasting MY at any moment of lactation. Also, data obtained from modelling can help with monitoring milk performance of each cow, diet planning, as well as monitoring the health of the cow.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.238-247
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• 2014

The milking robot system is very important to detect correctly the teats position in the moving condition of cow. Also, the robot manipulator must control tracking the teat cup to the detected teat position. The presented milking robot is designed using the one point laser sensor for teat position detection. The teats of cow are detected by the laser scanning unit and the manipulator has the function of 3 axes moving control unit. The presented teat detection method and the electrical driving manipulator have the advantages of a simple, low cost and very quiet. The designed manipulator is realized by the totally electrical motor and servo poison control algorithm with velocity PID compensation. The presented robot is realized using the teat detection unit, 4 teat cups, 3 axes robot arm, 6 servo motors and automatic milking control line. The designed robot is experimented in the cow farm and is satisfied with the designed performance specification for milking robot manipulator.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.500-507
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• 2020

This study examined the wastewater at a livestock farm, and found that the dairy wastewater from the milking parlor had a lower concentration than the piggery wastewater, and that it was produced at a rate under 1.3 ㎥/day in a single farmhouse. The amount of dairy wastewater was determined based on the performance of the milking machine, the maintenance method of the milking parlor, and the amount of milk production allocated for each farmhouse, not by the area. The results confirmed that both dairy wastewater treatment processes, specifically those using Hanged Bio-Compactor (HBC) and Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), can fully satisfy the water quality standards of discharge. The dairy wastewater has a lower amount and concentration than piggery wastewater, meaning it is less valuable as liquid fertilizer, but it can be easily degraded using the conventional activated sludge process in a public sewage treatment plant. Therefore, discharging the dairy wastewater after individual treatment was expected to be a more reasonable method than consigning it to the centralized wastewater treatment plant. The effluent after the SBR process showed a lower degree of color than the HBC effluent, which was attributed to biological adsorption. In the case of the milking parlor in the livestock farm, the concentrations of the effluents obtained after HBC and SBR treatments both satisfied water quality standards for the discharge of public livestock wastewater treatment plants at 99% confidence intervals, and the concentrations of total nitrogen and phosphorous in untreated wastewater were even lower than the water quality standards of discharge. Therefore, we need to discuss strengthening the water quality standards to reduce environmental pollution.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2001

A manipulator for test-cup attachment modules, which was a part of a robot milking system, was developed to reduce cost and labor for cow milking processing. A Cartesian coordinate manipulator was designed for the milking process, because it was quite flexible and can be constructed more economically than any other configuration. The manipulator was made use of DC motors, screws for power transmission, a RS422 interface system for the transmission of coordinate values and a one-chip microprocessor, 89C52. Performance tests of the manipulator were conducted to measure experimentally the precision of all axes. Some of the results are as follows. 1. The Cartesian coordinate manipulator was designed and built. Dimension of the three perpendicular axes (X, Y, and Z) and one arm’s axis(W) to pick up and transfer the modules were 700㎜$\times$450㎜$\times$550㎜$\times$650㎜. The arm’s axis moved the teat-cup attachment module, which attached four teat-cup to four teats, detached four teat-cup from four teats, was designed and manufactured by using CAD, CAM and CNC. 3. After 10 replications of exercising the manipulator, mean precision values(positioning error) of X, Y, Z axes wee 0.48㎜, 0.20㎜, 0.19㎜, respectively. Therefore, we conclude the axes to have a precision better than 0.5㎜, had no problem to operate correctly the milking manipulator.