Soviet Dairy Farm Going High-Tech to Monitor Cows : U.S.-Made Computer Tracks Each Animal’s Feeding and Output

PODOLSK, Soviet Union —  An American firm has installed the latest high-tech equipment on a state dairy farm here in hopes of helping the Soviet Union get more milk from each of its 40 million cows.

Instead of a bell around its neck, every one of the 400 cows taking part in the experiment will wear a transponder, an electronic identification tag bearing a number from one to 400.

This enables a desktop computer to keep track of the amount of milk that each cow gives daily and, in turn, to measure out fodder and to record it when the animal eats it.

So far, only 2,000 farms in the United States have installed such elaborate systems, according to American experts.

But the computerized milking parlor is still a complete novelty in the Soviet Union, which is the largest milk-producing nation in the world.

The American computer-based system will be matched against a new and similar Soviet design starting next summer in a trial run that could lead to a business partnership. If it works out, Babson Bros. of Oak Brook, Ill., and Gosagroprom, the Soviet super-ministry for agro-industrial enterprises, will produce computerized dairy equipment for the Soviet and world markets.

Rewards Producers

Nicholas C. Babson, president of the firm that bears his family name, said the big advantage of the system is that it conserves feed, which accounts for half the cost of running a dairy farm.

“This system allows a farm manager to stop overfeeding low-producing cows and underfeeding high producers,” he said in an interview at the Moscow offices of Ipatco, a Swiss-based firm specializing in advanced technology that formed a joint venture with Babson Bros. for this program.

On the experimental Shchapovo state farm near Podolsk, about 30 miles south of Moscow, the American side of the electronic dairy barn has been in operation since mid-December.

Murat M. Boynovich, the farm director, enthusiastically described the new equipment, along with a Soviet counterpart milking area, to a visitor.

“It’s a principle of capitalism: If you produce more, you eat more,” Boynovich said with a wink. A cow is allocated 300 grams of food concentrate for each liter of milk she gives, he said. A cow with a daily output of 20 liters, for example, would receive about 13 pounds of mash.

This is possible because the cow’s milk production is recorded automatically in the dairy’s computer. When a cow steps up to a feeding station, he explained, its electronic tag would send an “order” for its allocation of feed. As the cow consumes the food, that information also would be sent to the computer’s memory.

Operators also can enter breeding data, whether a cow is pregnant, when its next calf is due and other statistical information. If the computer shows that a cow has not eaten anything for 24 hours, the veterinarian can be alerted to give that cow a checkup.

The computer also has altered dairy feeding times. As now set up, a daily allotment must be consumed throughout the day, during each of eight three-hour meal periods.

Fewer Workers Needed

Another device measures the flow of milk and disconnects milk machines when output drops below 250 cubic centimeters a minute, Babson said, adding: “The cow’s milked out at this point.”

One major advantage is a reduction in labor force for the computerized dairy. A single worker can now oversee the automated machinery, in contrast with the dozen or more workers needed for uncomputerized dairy farms.

The American equipment, Babson said, would cost about $30,000 to install on a dairy farm with 100 to 200 cows.

An institute in Riga, Latvia, is designing the Soviet computer-based system to be tested and compared under the same roof to the U.S. machinery.

“In principle, there is practically no difference,” farm director Boynovich said. “But some components are superior on the American model and some are better on our model. We hope can make a combination design and sell it in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and the rest of the world.”

The same hope was expressed by V. Kozhevenikov, head of the animal husbandry department of the government’s agro-industrial complex.

“If nothing stands in the way, we shall start studying the possibility of joint production . . . both for Soviet and foreign markets,” he said.