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Robots milk cows at Valatie farm

Nov 15, 2017 2:15 pm
Madison Iszler reports in the Albany Times Union that at the Ooms & Sons Dairy farm in Valatie robots now milk the cows. The 1,800-acre, 475-cow farm bought three robots in 2015, and four more last year, and they have increased milk production by between 10 and 15 percent. They also mean fewer jobs for humans. "Labor is less plentiful now more than ever," Eric Ooms said. "A lot of people don't want to do this work." Instead of a weekly salary, Ooms paid $170,000 per robot and built a new barn, and pays $300 for annual software update for each robot. In return, he gets longer hours, and all kinds of information. "There's so much data," Ooms said. "I'm still figuring it all out. It's a tremendous tool." Read the full story in the Albany Times Union.