Optimizing Management in Robotic Milking Systems

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

The Challenges Of Management In Robots Also Present Opportunity

By Emily Mckinlay

Robotic milking systems are not new to Ontario dairy farmers, but the University of Guelph’s Dr. Trevor DeVries says that the adoption of the technology is still climbing.

“In general, we are seeing continued strong adoption of robotic milking systems within the dairy industry, particularly here in Canada,” says DeVries.

“The numbers are very strong with many provinces pushing 20 per cent or greater adoption across dairy farms. As that technology continues to be refined, we see more and more adoption, not only here, but throughout the world.”

As the technology continues to be improved, robotic milkers help manage the labour demands of the farm, while also allowing farmers to collect and manage more data, helping supplement their visual observations. These advances benefit all farms, particularly those with small to medium-sized herds.

“In Canada, robots are largely used on small to medium-sized family-run farms. This has benefits, particularly from a farmer efficiency and time-availability standpoint,” explains DeVries.

“We also see robots on some larger farms, which is beneficial not just for time flexibility but also for overall labour efficiency.

“Producers are really taking advantage of the fact that these systems not only have benefits from the farmer’s side, but also the cow side.”

DeVries cites the behaviour benefits of giving the cow agency in its own milking schedule, as well as the ability to tailor health, housing, and nutritional management more specifically to the needs of the animal, as some of the advantages for cow care.

As adoption of robotic milking systems continues to increase, DeVries is studying how management of herds with robotic milking systems affects the performance and well-being of the cows, as well as the people who care for them.

Management differences

Robotic milking systems can require different approaches to management compared to other milking systems.

However, DeVries says that many of the issues that farmers with robotic milking systems face are consistent across other systems used in the industry.

“A lot of things are the same with robots. The issues around cow comfort and providing a good, clean environment are all the same, if not more important.”

While a cow is being milked, robots can collect a variety of data about the cow and her production.

This data can bring a lot of benefit to management decisions and individualized care, but DeVries cautions producers to remember to keep eyes on their herd.

“There can be a shift to relying a bit more on technology in terms of the data that farmer receives from the robot and its auxiliary sensors,” says DeVries.

“But at the same time, they can’t forget that the cows themselves still need to be looked at and managed.”

Robotic systems do allow for more farm or animal-specific management strategies.

The age, production goals, and nutritional requirements of an animal may be more precisely addressed through adjustment of feed in the robot, as well as milking permissions and resultant milking frequencies.

These present both opportunities and challenges for farmers managing these systems.

Benefits and opportunities

Managing cows in robotic milking systems can also present some challenges, which DeVries says could also be viewed as opportunities.

“Some of those common challenges with conventional farms get almost amplified in a robot scenario.

“We know that cows need good cow comfort, with clean facilities, fresh air, and comfort while lying and standing. The negative effects, if those components are not managed well, are potentially greater in a robotic system than in a conventional barn.”

Robotic systems also present some unique situations for feeding. Robots allow for concentrate supplementation during milking.

This is not only to entice the cows into the robot, but also allows for strategic supplementation of the cow’s individual nutritional needs. To achieve that, producers and their nutritional team need to balance what is fed in the robot with what is fed in the bunk.

“Feeding becomes different in a robotic system. There are a lot of different approaches taken in robotic facilities,” says DeVries.

“It comes back to how the barn is designed and managed, balancing the feed provided in the robot versus that in the feed bunk. There is no one way of doing that, and every farm is a little different.”

This is something that DeVries’s research group recently demonstrated in a study of robot milking farms from across Canada, in which they reported that the amounts of feed provided, on average, to cows at the robot and feed bunk varied regionally across the country, but the total amount of feed was similar.

Those varied feed amounts were not associated with differences in milk production.

“At the end of day, the cow still needs to eat the same amount of feed, but we can vary the amounts of feed in the robot and the feed in the bunk.

“There is, however, an opportunity to optimize feed efficiency based on the individual needs of the cow that are dictated by her production level and stage of lactation.”

DeVries’s research is looking at these potential benefits and opportunities to see how performance and cow well-being can be optimized.

More research

DeVries began research on robot milking technology over 15 years ago. At that time, adoption of robotic milking systems sat around three to five per cent before it steadily climbed to the current adoption on approximately 20 per cent of dairy farms.

“The goal of my research was to keep up with the demand from the industry for empirical knowledge on the use of those systems.”

Now further into his research career, with more established use of robotic milking systems, DeVries says that his work largely focuses on trying to prepare cows to thrive in a robot system and taking advantage of nutritional supplementation opportunities.

“We are trying to set up cows better for robots. One of the things we need to ensure is that the cows desire to be milked voluntarily.

“We are not bringing them in to be milked, so we want them to do so voluntarily at different times of the day. We want to understand what factors influence that, between management, feeding, housing, and previous experience.”

Some of the most recent research from DeVries’s lab is investigating how heifers can be trained to use a robot.

“We are focusing on how training cows to use a robotic system can have a longer-term influence on milking behaviour.”

His team has been working on a series of studies based on this opportunity.

They have preconditioned heifers before they calve and transition into their first lactation to the positive elements of the robot, like feed, but also the novel elements, like sounds and movements of the robot.

“What we have found is that cows probably need exposure to both of those elements to condition them to the use of the robotic system and improve their adaptability.”

Similarly, they are also evaluating how using robots to deliver supplemental feed can set up cows for better production success throughout lactation.

“Additional and strategic nutrient supplementation at the time of the greatest energy need, in early lactation, can set up a cow for better production over her entire lactation, and that’s something we can uniquely do in robots because of individual supplementation opportunity.”

In improving the understanding of the implications of robotic systems on cows, farmers can make better decisions to better utilize the individualistic nature of the robot to its fullest ability for each animal.

DeVries’s previous work has also found that these systems have benefits for the farmer as well, as labour becomes increasingly challenging to source.

“One interesting result we’ve seen, although it’s not too surprising, is that farms that employ robotic milking technology are more likely to employ other technologies on their farm.

“It probably comes back to the individual’s desire to explore and use various technologies to become more efficient on-farm.”

There is also a potential benefit to a farmer’s health.

DeVries explains that “we have also been able to demonstrate in our research a link between that technology adoption and quality of life.” BF