Milking Equipment Introduction

Milking equipment is specialized equipment used in dairy farms to collect milk. It consists of a milking machine and a vacuum device. The first milking machine using a rubber inner sleeve for vacuum suction was developed in Britain in 1903. This equipment is divided into two main categories: fixed and mobile. Fixed milking machines include bucket-type, pipe-type, and milking parlor-type models, while mobile milking machines include portable equipment such as milking carts. The milking machine simulates the sucking action of calves through a vacuum device. Core components include a milk cup, a pulsator, and a milk collector. Operating modes include two-beat and three-beat types. The development of milking equipment has mainly gone through six stages: manual cup-operated mechanical milking, manual cup-operated electrically controlled milking, manual cup-operated electronically controlled milking, cow data-assisted milking, cow data-driven intelligent milking, and robotic milking (automatic cup-operated). In 2024, the global milking equipment market revenue was US$2.521 billion, with fully automatic milking equipment dominating the market, and the majority of the market share held by a few companies. The global milking equipment market reached 23.692 billion yuan in 2025 and is projected to reach 42.017 billion yuan by 2032. As of 2016, the mechanized milking rate in China's dairy farms with more than 100 cows had reached 95%. Modern rotary milking machines are characterized by high throughput and low reliance on manual labor. Intelligent development has spurred the emergence of voluntary robotic milking systems, equipped with robotic arms, sensors, and cow facial recognition technology, supporting automatic cup removal, sterilization, and 24-hour operation. In 2024, China's first domestically developed automatic milking robot prototype rolled off the production line in Luoyang, integrating a binocular stereo vision system and intelligent analysis functions.