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How dairy robots are changing work for cows and farmers

(spectrum.ieee.org)
225 points DonHopkins | 7 comments | 15 Apr 25 22:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.018s | source | bottom
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decimalenough ◴[16 Apr 25 00:36 UTC] No.43700087[source]▶
Serious question: why would a dairy care about the cow's quality of life? The setup in the video looks far more expensive than what most dairies actually do, which is keeping cows tightly confined in stalls where they can't move at all.
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HeyLaughingBoy ◴[16 Apr 25 01:03 UTC] No.43700245[source]▶
> why would a dairy care about the cow's quality of life?

Believe it or not, most people who go into animal husbandry do so because they enjoy working with animals and care deeply about their welfare.

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1. AlotOfReading ◴[16 Apr 25 01:59 UTC] No.43700620[source]▶
It's not so much about animal welfare. If there's a trade-off to be made between economics and animal welfare, the economics usually win out. Cattle would prefer to graze low density pastures, for example, but that's not compatible with the economic realities of modern dairy and it ends up limited to an insignificant portion of the market. Robots and automation solve problems for both the livestock and the dairy, so they're common.
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2. nick3443 ◴[16 Apr 25 02:52 UTC] No.43700934[source]▶
Intensive grazing (with rotation) is also better for the soil and plants.
3. bluGill ◴[16 Apr 25 03:16 UTC] No.43701079[source]▶
saying that cow like pasture is you projecting you values on them. People study cows and near as they can tell cows don't care about wide open. Cows are herd animals and if they get plenty of feed in a barn with a few hundred other cows in their herd they are happy.

cows only moo when they are unhappy. I've been in barns with over 1000 cows and they are nearly silent. Cows in the wide open pasture moo all the time because of things they don't like.

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4. popol12 ◴[16 Apr 25 05:40 UTC] No.43701867[source]▶
Please watch the documentary “Cow”, by the author of movies “Fish tank” and “American Honey” (both are unrelated to animals btw)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_(2021_film)

There’s a scene where cows finally run out of the barn at the beginning of spring. Their joy is obvious.

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5. bluGill ◴[16 Apr 25 12:26 UTC] No.43704509{3}[source]▶
A documentary? Really? They have a long tradition of setting up scenes to show the view they want you to see. There is some fact behind some, but there is no requirement that they be true.

Cows don't run out of the barn in any case I've ever seen - they walk. The young calfs run out, but not the older cows. (and maybe some of the young cows). If you typical cow is running it is because she is scared.

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6. LargoLasskhyfv ◴[16 Apr 25 22:02 UTC] No.43710879{4}[source]▶
Those are depressed and/or stressed cows. Normal ones even jump with joy, less so than young calves, but they do.
7. popol12 ◴[18 Apr 25 09:02 UTC] No.43726285{4}[source]▶
Man, hear me out. You haven't even searched for it, and you make generalities to prove your point. Can you please give me benefit of the doubt until you've actually checked it out ? "Cow" is not a shitty partisan documentary, there's no narration at all, it simply presents the life of some cows in a medium exploitation in the UK through the seasons. It's quite unique. I've never seen another documentary like this one.

My seedbox is hosting it if you want to download it. It's not the most available file on the web: https://filebin.net/htjmlghpit9nzq84