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HighlightsDevelopments in automatized feeding lead to farms being locked industrial production sites.LiDAR and Radar facilitate driverless feed mixers by covering navigation and safety aspects.External safety of driverless vehicles can be compensated with optical, acoustical and organizational measures.Abstract. Present automatic feeding systems (AFS) for dairy cattle are predominantly machines with additional external structures, e.g., bus bars and guide rails. In order to achieve complete automation of the feeding process, future AFS must be adaptable to different types of farm structures. Technologies such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) enable free navigation of self-propelled feed mixer wagons and make important contributions to personal protection and collision avoidance. This enables the feed mixer to reach silo systems independently, remove feed and present it at the feed table. Using a self-propelled mixer feeder, both LiDAR and Radar are comparatively analyzed in a practical series of tests under farm conditions. Research into the legal framework and an exemplary risk assessment lay the conceptual basis for future automatic feeding systems. The aim of this consideration is to derive a coordinated concept for the areas of navigation and collision protection in an automatic feeding system for next-generation dairy cattle. Keywords: AFS, AGV, Automation, Dairy, Feeding, Laser, LiDAR, Radar.

Regional energy supply is an important topic in the context of the energy transition in Germany. The “Cow Energy” project aims to combine the production of energy and milk for the farmer. In order to take the different needs into account, a central energy management system (EMS) is being established. This system records and simulates how much electricity is generated from renewable sources (biogas, solar, wind, etc.) on the farm. This is compared with the consumption of the barn technology (milking robot, feeding robot, etc.). This energy management is regulated according to the needs of the cows. In order to balance the fluctuations between energy production and energy consumption, the EMS regulates various battery systems. One goal is to network this energy system with the region and to establish regional energy networks.

Renewable and sustainable energy production is important in Germany. However, renewable energy production often depends on the variability of weather. Therefore, the flexibility of energy consumption is required. In dairy farming this flexibility can be realized by automation and sensor-based management of the working processes. For this, it is necessary to utilize storage capacities and shifting potential, especially since modern dairy farms can produce renewable energy themselves. The combination of these aspects may lead to a more flexible energy consumption or provision in the farm energy balance. Aim of this research is to identify and evaluate the potential of energy storage technologies in the dairy production processes. Subsequently these storage technologies are evaluated regarding the energy consumption. Additionally, the consequences of an autonomous energy and production management system for dairy farms are discussed. Due to the particular production processes, the energy forms—electricity, air pressure, hot water, and iced water —affect the applicability of different storage technologies. The storage of electrical energy shows the advantage of a more flexible transformability into other energy forms and bidirectional use. However, handling these flexible energy systems is very complex; thus, an integrated on-farm energy management system must consider all the relevant aspects.

Considering all sources and influencing factors of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and energy balance in agriculture, the individual and accurate calculation of GHG emissions and energy balance play a very important role. Renewable and sustainable energy production is an important resource for energy in Germany. As renewable energy production often depends on the occurring weather situation, the energy production is exposed to the volatility of these influences. In dairy farming, the required flexibility can be realized by automation and sensor-based management of working processes. For this, it is necessary to utilize storage capacities and shifting potentials to guarantee electricity supply at any time. Furthermore, modern dairy farms produce energy from wind turbines, biogas – and photovoltaic plants. The comination of these aspects may lead to an even more flexible energy consumption in the total energy balance. In this study the total energy balance have been done for different scenarios

Milk production is the most important branch of German agriculture and the German dairy industry is the largest sector within the German food industry. For about a quarter of agricultural farms in Germany, milk production is the main source of income. The productive and economic quality of the dairy cattle farm depends crucially on the efficient, cost-optimized and quality-oriented milking technique. In the last 20 years, automatic milking has become increasingly popular among dairy cattle farms in Germany. For a long time, the main target group was medium-sized family farms with 60 to 180 cows. Meanwhile, there is also appropriate technology for large farms that can milk more than 4000 cows. The study will show which technique of automatic milking is suitable for which type of farm and its impact on the organization and management of the farms. Additionally, the effect on the farm manager, herd manager and milker but also on their families will be presented. Also, the effect on the cows and the changes in the cow's human relationship is analysed. An overview of the survey shows that family farms between 60 and 180 cows are best at dealing with single box systems and free milking. Large companies with external workers often use automatic milking carts with fixed milking times, as this has organizational advantages in group management. In medium-sized farms between 180 and 500 dairy cows, solutions with several milking robots in individual boxes as well as automatic group milking systems can be found. Both systems have their organizational advantages and disadvantages. In summary, automatic milking has meanwhile reached all company sizes and types. Automatic milking not only has an effect on milking during operation. It is usually the beginning of a further automation of the operation. Due to the lack of contact between man and cow during milking, more information about the cow is transmitted via sensors.

In consequence of increasing workloads and the pressure to rationalize the workload in combination with increasing quality requirements of consumers, German dairy farms often invest in automation of single production processes. However, these automatic mechatronic systems are limited in their potential. As the more and more intelligent systems are not able to communicate among themselves. In this context, the approach of a cyber-physical system leads to new possibilities of product and process quality. The connection of all/several mechatronic subsystems causes to a more flexible production process which can adjust and optimise the production regarding external influences to the system. This results in an reduction of workload, automatic documentation and traceability of the product during the production process. Risks arise from the system itself. Hence, an appropriate user interface is necessary to control the system. For this, the farmer must be able to define boundaries in which the system can run on its own and where human authorisation is necessary.