In the mid-1970s, the average American dairy farm had about 25 cows. Today, many operations have more than 3,000 — a number that was almost unheard of 25 years ago. Managing large herds efficiently ...

DeLaval International, a large Swedish producer of dairy and other farming equipment, is installing 24 robotic voluntary – meaning the cows approach the stations on their own – milking machines at TDI ...

Efficiency isn't the only benefit Sammy and Pam Jones get from the new robotic milking machines they use on their dairy farm. The machines also give the couple a degree of freedom rare in the ...

Be careful, humans: cows and robots have learned how to work together - who knows what this union could produce if we let it flourish unchecked. Lely, an international agriculture corporation recently ...

ARLINGTON — A robot helps feed Nick Van Dam’s dairy cows. The red-and-white automatic feed pusher moves along the feeding alley at Van Dam’s dairy, a nearly 200-acre farm in an urban growth area ...

For at least the last century, we’ve seen fewer farmers using more labor-saving tools to produce more food. This should be no surprise — just about every field works this way. And yet I was surprised ...

A farmer is sitting by a cow, milking by hand. The year is 1944, the year I was born. He’s milking the same way his father and grandfather did before him. Nothing much had changed in milking cows over ...

Holsteins, the black-and-white-spotted dairy cattle, are known for their long, lanky limbs and calm temperaments. America's dairy farms are doing more with less. There are fewer dairy cows today than ...

Matthew Stuber is affiliated with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Gary Kazmer receives funding from USDA. Shalabh Gupta is a member of IEEE and ASME. Steven Zinn receives funding ...