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Cows usually don't have a say in how they spend the day. The first milking is usually at dawn, where they form a cow conga production line leading to the milking station. Then there is feeding, then rest, and then more milking (if they are allowed to graze on the open ground, they may also be able to hang out on the pasture). Commercial farms repeat this cycle two to three times a day, and each cow must follow the farmer's schedule, not their own schedule.

But what happens when you let the cow decide how often she wants to milk, and whether she wants to eat, drink, or just relax?

Aðalsteinn Hallgrímsson and his brother Gardar own a dairy farm in northern Iceland, just outside Akureyri. Because they have installed robots in the barn, they know the answers to these questions-and other questions you would never think of asking.

In 2007, Hallgrímssons rebuilt their barn from scratch, spending 160 million kronor ($1.46 million) on technologies such as milking robots, automatic feeding systems, and cleaning robots. Aðalsteinn's son Einar örn Aðalsteinnson said that the investment paid off quickly. Within a year, the milk production of their 80 dairy cows increased by 30%, and the infection rate dropped significantly, reducing the farm's veterinary expenses from 2 million kronor a year to below 500,000 kronor.

Their success is due to a simple factor: the cows are now happier.

When one of their cows wanted to milk, she would walk to the middle of the barn and find one of the three Lely automatic milking machines. She enters the machine-a cow-sized compartment with a door-first inspects and cleans her nipples. Next, when the cow eats some nougat, the robot attaches its equipment to extract her milk: the delicious corn kernels are supplemented with various vitamins and minerals. The entire process takes 10 minutes or less.

Unless the weather is bad, the door of the barn is open, allowing the cows to roam freely outside and graze on the pasture. If they want, they can relax on 2-inch thick foam mattresses, which are neatly arranged in a row along the side of the barn. When they want to scratch the itch on their back, there is a massage machine, fresh grass or hay is always available, provided through an automatic feeding system. The robot runs around to clean the barn, and the cow dung is automatically collected through the slats on the floor and used as fertilizer for the farm. The air conditioning system controlled by the rooftop weather station automatically opens and closes windows to ensure fresh air (which is very important for operation, Einar said). Another computer-controlled machine feeds the calves.

The Hallgrímsson farm is not the first to be automated-computerized systems have been commercially sold since the early 1990s. But it is the first farm to install all these technologies in one place, Einar said. Western Europe is leading the way in adopting automatic milking systems, but the system’s penetration in the US market has been slower. This is partly because the cattle herd in North America is usually in the thousands, which makes the cost prohibitive.

As news of the farm robot spread, tourists began to appear in the cowshed in Iceland. In order to adapt to the passenger flow, in 2011, Einar and his wife Sesselja decided to venture together to open a restaurant.

Kaffi Kú (literally means Cafe Cow) is partially suspended above the barn, and floor-to-ceiling windows provide a bird's-eye view of the cows. It specializes in dishes made with farm products-such as beef stew and burgers, and hot chocolate and pastries made with milk-which provides another source of income for the farm.

All these devices collect a large amount of data on each cow - the time they milked, the quality of each cow's milk, which vitamins or minerals they lack, and how much milk they produce - to provide more intelligence to their owners On their herd. Einar says this allows them to better understand their cows.

"People always joke that farmers with this technology can go on vacation, but it is more time-consuming, not less," he said. "The difference is that farmers can spend all their time caring for animals. The job has changed. It's easier and more fun."

Cows also have more fun. "They have not been trapped in the same stall for months in a row. They communicate with each other, have friends, and have clear levels. You will understand their personalities and behaviors."

The success of robots does mean that farmers’ jobs are reduced. Einar estimates that their current 150-head cattle herd previously required 6 farm workers, but now only 2 are needed.

So what are the answers to these original questions? If you are wondering, these cows like to be milked four times most days, while you see it twice on a typical farm. Oh, they all have names. "This is an ancient tradition," Einar said, "but now we have to dig deeper because the herd has become so large."

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