How dairy robots are changing work for cows and farmers

Enthusiasm and robot design

• Commenters are fascinated by the ecosystem of barn robots: milking arms, feed pushers, and “manure Roombas,” with lots of joking about naming (“Poopoombas,” “moombas”).
• People like that designers explicitly treated cows as end users, tuning behaviors (e.g., poop robots had to be more assertive so cows wouldn’t bully them).

Cow behavior and welfare

• Several note that robotic milking lets cows “self-schedule”: they go when udders are uncomfortably full, associating the robot with pain relief and treats.
• Autonomy is widely assumed to improve welfare and milk yield; some share anecdotes that happier cows produce more and higher-quality milk.
• Debate over whether cows prefer pasture or barns: some say they mostly care about herd size, feed, and comfort; others cite visual evidence of obvious joy when cows are released to pasture.
• Question of whether cows care about human vs robot interaction gets a mixed, anecdotal answer: varies by individual cow; many are indifferent.

Manure and barn automation

• The stat that a cow produces ~68 kg of manure per day surprises many; discussion clarifies most of that is water and is removed while still wet.
• People describe the scale of manure infrastructure: scrapers, trenches, pits, and pumps—robots are seen as a natural fit here.

Economics, scale, and labor

• Robots have existed for years and are sold by multiple companies; some very large farms (thousands of cows) use them, though rotary parlors with cheap labor are still common.
• Robots can raise feed intake, reduce disease, and milk more often, boosting yield and convenience, but they’re expensive capital equipment competing with low-wage, unpleasant human jobs.

Ethical concerns and “dark dairies”

• One line of discussion fears “dark dairies” with minimal welfare and no light.
• Counterarguments: milk production is tightly linked to cow comfort; highly stressed cows underperform, so extreme neglect is likely unprofitable.
• Others argue economics can still push toward “good enough” but miserable conditions, so consumer pressure and welfare laws matter.

Reliability, downsides, and article tone

• Some think the article reads like a single-vendor ad, lacking discussion of failures, costs, or competing products.
• Farmers report real-world issues: hardware breakdowns at all hours, constant alarms, and stress; early adopters sometimes reverted to conventional milking.
• Newer systems are believed to be better, but automation is framed as changing, not eliminating, labor.

Future directions

• Several speculate about skipping cows entirely via bioreactors or “plant-based milk,” and jokingly extend the automation metaphor to human care and “AI overlords.”