Today`s dairymen have fundamental demands when it comes to a milking equipment investment such as, increased profitability, higher efficiency of labour, low physical stress, and the ability to produce the best quality of milk from healthy cows. WestfaliaSurge as a leading supplier of innovative technology for dairy farmers wants to, and has to bring products to the market which fulfils the above mentioned demands under economically efficient conditions. As these requirements cannot presently be guranteed for automatic milking sytems (AMS), WestfaliaSurge has decided not to pursue its current AMS project.

That does mean that robotics do not have place in future developments. WestfaliaSurge strongly believes in the automation of the milking process. The company has watched the scene very carefully over years and will use its long experience in AMS to keep on working on future automated milking technologies. Dr. Anton Daubner, CEO of the WestfaliaSurge Group: "If an investment in AMS in the near future proves economical, then this technology will have a place in WestfaliaSurge`s range of products."

WestfaliaSurge is the first manufacturer to react decisively on this subject. This desicision is supported by the current experts` discussions at the conferences and in the agricultural press. Thus, in `top agrar II/2004´, (the leading German agricultural magazine) the technical functionality of AMS was confirmed - but in economic terms it was rated a clear second behind conventional milking systems.

Dr. Anton Daubner states: "When we develop new technologies, our focus is on the dairy farmer and his success. Today, milk production is subject to enormous cost pressures. Our studies have shown that at present, this criteria cannot be fulfilled by automatic milking systems." None of the manufacturers of AMS can offer a really economical solution which meets all the dairymen`s demands. That means: No automatic milking system can offer reasonable performance and highest milk quality by highest profitability. 

The fact is that milk production by AMS is about 2 to 4 EuroCent more expensive per litre. This means: 10 to 15 percent of the milk revenues are lost to the additional costs of AMS. Furthermore, AMS is more inflexible when it comes to enlarging herds. If expansion in milk production is required in the future, further high costs usually result.