The research and development described in this thesis was directed towards the technical and managerial integration of the milking robot into the dairy farm. First a concept and tools for the milking robot dairy farm were developed. A set of parameters was introduced which represents the individual cow's production and behaviour pattern in addition to herd and automatic milking system capacity characteristics. Then, a series of three field tests was conducted to validate the automatic milking system management concept, and the tools for its implementation. The aim was to assign an individual milking frequency and concentrates supplementation regime to each dairy cow in a loose housing system. Attention was focused on the implementation of an individual production and behaviour-based strategy, using cow traffic, milking frequency and individual concentrates allocation as the control tools. in all field tests, the milking robot was available for milking and concentrates allocation for 24 hours a day. The cows visited voluntarily a selection unit which was installed before the milking robot, where an on-line milking and concentrates allocation decision was made. In the first and second field tests, cows were milked between two to five times daily, based on daily fixed and pre-determined milking frequency and concentrates allocation. In the third field test the daily milking frequency, two to six times daily, and concentrates allocation were based on frequent evaluation of cow behaviour and production performance. The methods and results described can be used as management guidelines for the loose housing milking robot dairy farm.
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