Farm
US government data show robots produced 6 percent of US milk in 2021, up from 4 percent in 2016.
A dated step forward on the record · Sets Milking robots's stage
What the source says
“Robotic milking was used to produce 6 percent of U.S. milk in 2021, up from 4 percent in 2016.”
What it means
Milking robots, from Lely, DeLaval, is at stage 5 of 5 on our ladder: regulator-cleared or mass market. This event is one of the milestones that placed it there.
Human help: Our sources report it working without human help.
More on Milking robots
- Lely now makes only dairy farm robots, and about 135,000 of its robots are in use around the world.
- In 2021, 13 percent of US dairy farms with 150 to 499 cows used robotic milking.
- DeLaval sold its 10,000th VMS milking robot, to Glenirvine Farms in Ontario, Canada.
- Swedish company DeLaval sold its first VMS (Voluntary Milking System) robots in 1998.
- A prototype of Lely's Astronaut milking robot milked its first cow in summer 1992.