Dr. Elizabeth French: Automated Milking Systems | Ep. 32

In recent years, automatic milking systems have become a valuable tool for dairy farmers, offering solutions to labor challenges and providing efficient management of cow milking. With it, farmers can streamline their daily tasks while also gaining valuable insights into cow behavior and responses through data analysis. However, effectively interpreting and utilizing this data is essential to optimize the performance of the milking systems. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Elizabeth French, an expert on the field, who discusses key factors such as the way the number of milking times, parity, and nutrition impact cow performance in robotic milking systems. Additionally, she provides an overview of her current research projects at the Forage Research Center, with the USDA.

“I think it is exciting that we are getting more and more monitors on farms to start telling in real-time when milk fat, protein, and lactose are changing.’’ - Dr. Elizabeth French

What you’ll learn:

• (0:00) Highlight
• (2:05) Introduction 
• (7:59) The role of milking frequency in automatic milking systems 
• (15:19) Precision nutrition in robotic systems 
• (22:29) Using automatic milking systems to predict feed nutrients 
• (27:12) Cover crops in the diets of cows 
• (31:19) Methane reduction of unborn calves 
• (36:23) The final questions

Meet the guest: Dr. Elizabeth French

Experience:

• Current: Animal Scientists and Researcher/Dairy Cattle Nutritionist at the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
• Past: Dairy Technical Specialist at Purina Mills; Dairy Management Advisor at DeLaval

Background:

• Ph.D., Dairy Nutrition (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• M.Sc., Dairy Nutrition (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• B.Sc., Biotechnology and Pre-veterinary Medicine (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

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