Farming has taken on new heights in the last decade as increasing interest in robotics has grown exponentially. The long, back breaking days of constantly bending over to put on and take off a milker, or putting in excessive amount of hours in a field could be long gone.  If you visit any major agricultural tradeshow the likelihood of seeing one of these innovative pieces of equipment is very good. Some of the latest inventions include a milking robot, sheep shearing robot, mechanical weeding and micro spraying robot, and harvesting robots.

One of the most popular robots in the Midwest is the milking robot. For those of you unaware of how this machine works, it is designed to allow cows to choose how often they are milked each day. Once the cow is trained to pass through the robotic milker, it is identified by an electronic tag, and determines if the cow is ready to be milked. If approved, the cow receives a reward, typically grain, and therefore recognizes this is a good thing to do, and not a bad thing. In the instance the cow comes through multiple times a day because she may be looking for some extra grain, the robot will see she is not ready to be milked and tickle her with a slight electric shock that will force her to exit the robot and return to pasture.

These robotic milkers are an excellent way to reduce stress in not only the farm owner, but the cows as well. Although there is obviously still work associated with the robot, the farm owner gains more freedom to focus on other aspects of the farm such as improving genetics or providing more attention to sick cows. If a cow chooses not to be milked at least twice a day, the robot will call the farmer on his cell phone to inform him. With the reduced stress on the cow, the chances of her producing more milk are rather high. Instead of having to stand in a crowd area of a milking parlor for sometimes multiple hours, she can easily get in and get out and continue her day of eating, drinking and relaxing.  Although robotic milkers are a bit of an investment (ranging around $150,000 to $175,000) the potential savings on employment and higher milk production, these machines could be paid off in no time.

Robotics used for harvesting a wide variety of crops are also gaining more popularity, especially in the western part of the country. In the so called $45 billion a year “specialty crop” market, growers are experiencing high labor costs and lacking quality employees. With these highly intensive, hand labor jobs, growers are near desperation for ways to provide a high quality product, without boosting its price. Some of these highly sought after specialty products include fruits, vegetables, nuts and nursery plants. Some of the latest inventions include an orange picker, strawberry picker, and walnut tree shaker. With these latest advances in technology, we could also see migrant worker populations decreasing.

Robotic inventions are definitely on the right track, and before we know it our fields and barns will be ran by such operations. Have you seen some of these robots in action?? Comment below and tell us about your experience!