VOA慢速英语2009-Agriculture Report - Letting a Robot Milk Your C

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Technology is making life easier for some dairy¹ farmers. They use robotic systems to milk their cows. These systems are designed to reduce labor² and increase milk production. Here is how they work:
　
A robotic milker at Mason Dixon Farms on the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland

Cows are trained to follow a series of paths that lead to milking stations. Only one cow at a time can enter a station.

Once inside, the cow is rewarded with food. As the cow eats, a robotic arm cleans and connects the animal to the milking machine. A few minutes later, the milking is complete. The gate is lifted, the cow is released³ and the next cow enters.

The robotic systems are designed to operate twenty-four hours a day. The cows get to decide when they want to be milked. Cows are milked an average of about three times a day. Some are milked four to six times a day.

The cows wear collars around their necks that identify them to the system. A computer keeps records on their eating and milking. A cow is released from the station if the computer decides it should not be milked.

The automated⁴ system also measures the temperature and color of freshly produced milk. Milk is thrown away if it does not pass the tests.
　
A picture of the whole robotic milking system

Cows need about two to four weeks to learn to use the robotic milking systems. Once trained, the cows no longer require human assistance⁵, unless something goes wrong. The system is programmed to notify⁶ the farmer if there is a problem.

Karen Plaut heads the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State University. Professor Plaut believes the systems will appeal especially to the next generation of farmers. She means young people who are more interested in technology and less interested in working all the time on the farm. Still, she says the price of robotic milking systems will continue to limit their use.

Doug and Tina Suhr have more than one hundred milking cows on their family farm. Last year it became the fourth farm in southeast Minnesota to get a robotic milking system. A recent story in a local agricultural newspaper said the first robot cost one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars. The second cost one hundred fifty thousand.

Doug Suhr told Agri News that wages that would have paid for one employee will pay for one robot in five years. He says the increase in milk production reached a high of more than six kilograms per cow per day.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by June Simms. I'm Bob Doughty⁷.

1 dairy   

n.牛奶场，乳品店；adj.乳制品的

参考例句：

• The yogurt sold by this dairy is delicious.这家乳品店出售的酸奶非常好喝。
• He kept a few dairy cows.他养了几头奶牛。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

4 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

5 assistance   

n.援助，帮助

参考例句：

• She called and called but no one came to her assistance.她叫了又叫，但没有人来帮。
• He will get the great possible assistance.他将获得尽可能大的帮助。

6 notify   

vt.通知，告知，报告

参考例句：

• The court clerk will notify the witness when and where to appear.法院办事员将通知证人出庭的时间及地点。
• He will notify us where we are to meet.他将通知我们在什么地方集合。

7 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。