Bristol County Aggie first high school in the US to have milking robot – Wicked Local

You’ve seen delivery robots, police robots and even robotics in food service, now farming education at Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton will have its own robotic component after the recent unveiling of a cow milking machine. 
This new piece of technology was installed at the aggie’s newest dairy barn in June  2020 and was a part of the school’s expansion and upgrade of its campus. 
School staff consulted with Mark Duffy, the school’s Agri-Mark cooperative representative, for more than two years during the planning of the new facility, which was funded in part by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA.)
The machine is the first of its kind and was announced by the Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators (MAVA) and Kevin Braga, Bristol County’s acting superintendent/principal.
The robot is a DeLaval-brand voluntary milking system (VMS.) 
The technology is utilized at the college level including at the University of Connecticut. 
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The students who will work with the milking robotics technology the most will be enrolled in the Animal Services shop. 
According to Braga, the “fully-automated robotic milking machine, allows for cows to be milked 24 hours a day in a controlled environment.”
In the past school staff and students would start their daily cow milking routine at 5 a.m. and kept the livestock on a twice-daily schedule. 
School staff described the process as, “Once a cow makes its way into the machine room, the milker will drop down grain for the cow to feed while it is being milked. The robotic arm will safely milk the cow and a recording of the process will be made for staff to view either in real-time or at a later date.”
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Livestock was moved into the new barn at the end of June, and for the first week, they were only in the space for a few hours a day. The cows were introduced to the new robotic milking machine on June 23.
The dairy barn is one piece of the 196,000-square-foot campus expansion which was completed this Spring.
“Our students are involved in the care and maintenance of our animals every day, so this barn will be a tremendous resource to have and a great hands-on learning opportunity,” Bristol Aggie Animal Science Department Chairperson Leslie Blanchette said. “Right now we are all still learning and getting adjusted. The cows’ behavior will dictate how the barn is fully utilized, as the health and well-being of our animals is of the utmost importance. We look forward to being more comfortable with the space by the time school starts up again in the fall.”
Cows are marked as milked with electronic tags and wear biometric collars which record their movement and health status.
The machine is outfitted with a high-resolution camera sending information to a mobile app for students and staff to monitor. 
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“Not only is the milking machine fully automated, but we receive all of this data in real-time as well,” Animal Science instructor Caitlin Bosworth said. “This is not only highly beneficial to us and for the health and safety of the cows, but it will provide tremendous educational advantages to our students. The barn and all of its features will give students the opportunity to see the real operation of a fully working dairy barn, with the added benefit of it being totally state-of-the-art.”

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