Cows Milking Themselves?? You Betcha.

Great story from the New York Times.

Check it http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/nyregion/with-farm-robotics-the-cows-decide-when-its-milking-time.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1 out here.

New York Farm Show Opens Thursday, Feb. 20

The New York Farm Show opens at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the New York State Fairgrounds in Geddes.

This year's event, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 20, 21 and 22, will include more than 400 exhibitors in six buildings -- Arts and Home Center, Center of Progress, Dairy, Horticulture, International Pavilion and Science.

The Farm Show also includes many seminars on a wide range of agriculture topics. Included will be 30-minute briefings in the Bistro Room of the Arts and Home Center beginning at 12:30 p.m. each day concerning changes in the recently adopted Farm Bill that will affect crop and revenue insurance options. These briefings are important because farmers must make decisions on insurance programs by the March 15 signup deadline.

These briefings are being put on by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets. More details about the Farm Bill's impact also will be available at the Ag and Markets exhibit in the International Pavilion.

Some of the special displays this year include:

Robotics -- Daily Dairy Robotonomics mini-seminars put four robotic manufacturer experts on the platform.

New York Beef Producers -- Offers a pen-of-five beef improvement topics daily on cattle show fitting, fencing and handling, grazing and forage management and more.

Anaerobic Digesters -- There could be big money available for digesters this year, so the UEM Group (AD designer) and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority and the Antares Group (NYS digester ombudsman) are teaming up for a Dairy Anaerobic Digester Profits mini-seminar at 1 p.m. Feb. 21 (Friday) at the show.

New York Forest Owners Association -- Offers many workshops during the show on 14 topics ranging from forest/woodlot management, market outlook, low-impact harvesting, portable sawmills, wildlife habitat, feral pigs, timber pasturing and more.

For an exhibitor list by category, go http://newyorkfarmshow.com/customPage.aspx?p=273 to this link.

Admission is $ 5 at the door; children under 18 are free. Tickets are available for free from Northeast Equipment Dealers.

Parking is free, and shuttle buses run all day to the six farm show buildings.

New York Farm Show is co-sponsored by the Northeast Equipment Dealers Association and American Agriculturist magazine. 
  

Automatic Milking Use Low in U.S.

Henk Hogeveen, Wageningen University, gave a presentation Thursday at the U.S. Precision Dairy Conference in Rochester, MN.

During it, he reported from 15 percent to 30 percent of Northwestern Europe dairy farms use automatic milking. In the U.S., that number is 1 percent. Hogeveen also told those at the conference that the motivation to use auto milking systems is not in the economics and farmers should look at the other benefits

Anyone have a clue why automatic milking use is so low in the United States?

Farming Out the Milking Chores

Go to http://vtdigger.org/2013/06/11/farming-out-the-milking-chores-to-a-robot/ to check out the story.