By Connor Lynch
Dairy farmers interested in getting a robotic milker might be getting a new option, touting a pivoting robotic arm and the promise of milking 120 cows, as Danish robotic milking company SAC looks to make inroads into Ontario.
Their robotic milker, the RDS Futureline Max, is a variation on a familiar design. The parlour, instead of having the typical one stall for cows, has two, and a pivoting arm in the centre of the box that attaches the milkers, theoretically increasing the efficiency of the milking.
“We can milk 120 cows in two stalls with one arm,” said product specialist for the North American market with SAC, Arnold Van Leeuwen.
SAC has been shipping robotic milkers throughout Europe and has sold a couple of the milkers to dairy farms in Quebec. The company hopes to expand into Ontario in the next few years.
“You need your dealer structure in place for these kinds of projects. As soon as we have that in place in Ontario we will start selling those projects,” said Van Leeuwen.
Distribution Jean Blanchard Inc., a retailer and wholesaler of milking parlour products in Quebec, will sell SAC’s automatic milking parlour. Salesman PatrickDesilets said that the biggest advantage for the SAC automatic milker is its arm. “It’s flexible, and it’s faster. A lot of farmers asked us to start selling in Ontario. It’s something we have to work on.”
SAC has sold three milking parlours to Ontario goat farms.
Trois-Rivières-based Robotiques Agri-Innovation Inc. is selling the robotic milker and lists the price as $265,000.
