Robots fill need for dairy farmworkers

WASHINGTON -- The long-standing paralysis in Congress over immigration has some dairy farmers opting to use robotic milking machines to deal with a shortage of farmworkers.

In New York, about 30 dairy farms use the machines. The robots have allowed dairy farmers to significantly cut dependence on human workers in a state where demand for milk is high among Greek yogurt processors.

"If we need extra milk, I think that the two leading options for addressing the labor issue are Latino workers and robotics,'' said Thomas Maloney, who specializes in farm labor at Cornell University.

It can cost up to $500,000 to install a single robotic milking machine. Many dairy farmers are expected to take the financial leap, absent a solution to the farmworker problem.

That problem involves the H2A visa program for temporary farmworkers. The program is bureaucratic and doesn't cover dairy workers, who are needed year-round.

Dairy farmers want the H2A program streamlined and overhauled so guest workers don't have to be sent home after several months. But Congress has made no progress on the issue.

Robotic milking machines involve very little human labor. When a cow decides she needs to be milked, she walks up to a booth where a mechanical arm cleans her udder and attaches laser-guided couplers to each teat.

The robots also scan a chip in the cow's ear tag to find out if she hasn't waited long enough since her last milking. If it's too soon, a gate lets her back into the corral.

Dale Hemminger at Hemdale Farms in Clifton Springs, N.Y., said robotic milking machines have reduced the farm's labor needs 20% to 30% for one of the most tedious tasks on a dairy farm.