Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 8.12
Packaged eggs in refrigerated space ready for transport to retailer. (Photo 9
from: http://www.wgal.com/news/-/9360790/7628632/-/6whfqoz/-/index.html.)
liquid eggs includes de-shelling eggs in a high-volume process. Liquid eggs may be
separated for specialty purposes. Additional processing, such as pasteurization, is also
automated.
8.5.3 M
ILK
Modern dairy parlors are highly automated, although in the vast majority of cases
manual labor still places the milking machine teat cups onto the animal. However,
from the point of milk extraction from a cow until reaching the consumer table, milk
processing is fully automated. Dairy producers have been early adopters of several
measurement, management, and control technologies. These include numerous sys-
tems regarding automated animal identification with radio frequency or other wire-
less devices, which provide an opportunity to deliver targeted rations to individual
animals that are group housed. Identification acquisition in the parlor, coupled with
that animal's key milk quantity and its properties, provide data for herd management
software that can be used to monitor productivity and health, and to intercede early
if a problem is suspected. Other automated milking parlor processes include: teat
and udder preparation before machine milking, automated teat cup removal based
on threshold low low, post-milking teat and udder disinfectant, and fully automated
parlor cleaning cycles after the herd is milked. Milk properties that can be measured
from each cow include temperature, opacity, conductivity, and total volume. Other
management properties include cow activity, a measure of estrus. Milk from cows
