Displaying items by tag: milking robot

Caretaker Kody Hash leads a tour and points out cattle with tags at the UT AgResearch and Education Center’s Little River Animal and Environmental Unit.  Ben Pounds/Hellbender Press
Computer-based milking methods offer the best cream of the crop

WALLAND — The University of Tennessee is using a new automated system to milk cows in the hope it’s easier on the animals than previous mechanized techniques.

It’s the newest feature of the UT AgResearch and Education Center’s Little River Animal and Environmental Unit at 3229 Ellejoy Road in Blount County.

As part of the unveiling of the equipment on May 2, visitors watched a cow on video walk through a ribbon to reach the new machines.

The milking machines, developed by Netherlands-based Lely Corporation, allow for cattle to walk up to the machines voluntarily to get special food in what a UT news release called a more “stress-free environment.”