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How dairy robots are changing work for cows and farmers

(spectrum.ieee.org)
225 points DonHopkins | 1 comments | 15 Apr 25 22:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.343s | source
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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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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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1. nick3443 ◴[16 Apr 25 02:52 UTC] No.43700934[source]▶
Intensive grazing (with rotation) is also better for the soil and plants.