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Tux Can Even Milk Cows!
GuitarNeophyte writes "If you're a cow, you want to get milked when you want to get milked. And if you were a dairy farmer, you want to make your cow happy. So what do you do? Set up a machine that gives the cow control of its milking schedule. Oh yeah, of course, it runs on Linux. It identifies the cow, then finds the udders, milks the cow, cleans it's undercarriage, and lets it go."
Cows actually like to get milked. They don't want to walk around with their udder full. They were doing research with the first generation of robotic milkers when I was doing my Masters at Guelph in the early 90s. Robotic milking is a big win-win. I wish we had these things when I was growing up on the farm. They liberate the farmer from the milking process (at least twice a day), and they provide a much more natural experience for the cow. In the wild, lactating animals don't just feed their young twice a day. The research from the early 90s showed these machines being used on average 6 times a day by each cow, which coincidentally is about the same frequency a cow will nurse her calf. Clearing the udder of milk more frequently typcally increases a cow's milk production by about 10%, a win for the farmer. Less milk in the udder also means a drop in bacterial infections in the udder. Again a win for the farmer (and the cow) who doesn't have to go through the expense and time of treating mastitis.