Self-Milking Cows

I was reading the Sun-Herald (yes the Sunday paper, that I got on Sunday, but only found time to read today ...) and as I was flicking through the pages, I suddenly saw a picture of a cow with carwash-like devices on it:

The picture was so out of the ordinary that it caused me to stop and read the accompanying article.

This article, titled 'Cows that milk themselves', talks of cows that get ID'ed by an implanted microchip, willingly walk themselves into "booths", which have robotic arms that are ultrasound and laser guided to the cow's udders and automactically milks the cow.

These wonderful "booths" also plays soothing classical music to the cows as they consume some feed from the troughs and, if they nudge a switch with their noses, they can activate brushes and rollers to give them a rub-down. What a wonderful booth! Gosh, if I was a cow, I'd like to be in that booth for most of the day. Get out of my way other cows!

I wonder if cows would actually come back to be milked more than twice a day. And is there a device to keep cows out if they keep coming back for more? Like, hey you don't have enough milk - no milk, no rub-down!

This article also states that if a cow develops a problem during milking, the owner can be notified by a text message..... "Come and get your bloody cow off me robotic arm!"

(I made up that last sentence)

This invention sounds amazing, but I couldn't help laugh when I first read it.