Robotic milking technologies and renegotiating situated ethical relationships on UK dairy farms

Holloway, Lewis; Wilkinson, Katy; Bear, Christopher

Abstract

Robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS) are novel technologies that take over the labor of dairy farming and reduce the need for human-animal interactions. Because robotic milking involves the replacement of 'conventional' twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, some claim robotic milking has health and welfare benefits for cows, increases productivity, and has lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. This paper examines how established ethical relations on dairy farms are unsettled by the intervention of a radically different technology such as AMS. The renegotiation of ethical relationships is thus an important dimension of how the actors involved are re-assembled around a new technology. The paper draws on in-depth research on UK dairy farms comparing those using conventional milking technologies with those using AMS. We explore the situated ethical relations that are negotiated in practice, focusing on the contingent and complex nature of human-animal-technology interactions. We show that ethical relations are situated and emergent, and that as the identities, roles, and subjectivities of humans and animals are unsettled through the intervention of a new technology, the ethical relations also shift. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Citation

Holloway, L., Wilkinson, K., & Bear, C. (2014). Robotic milking technologies and renegotiating situated ethical relationships on UK dairy farms. Agriculture and human values, 31(2), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-013-9473-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 22, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Oct 31, 2013
• Publication Date: 2014-06
• Deposit Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Journal: Agriculture and human values
• Print ISSN: 0889-048X
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 185-199
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-013-9473-3
• Keywords: Situated ethics, Dairy farming, Robotic milking, UK, Technology, Animal studies
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/375927
• Publisher URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10460-013-9473-3
• Additional Information: Author's accepted manuscript of article published in: Agriculture and human values, 2014, v.31, issue 2. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10460-013-9473-3
• Contract Date: Jul 1, 2015