Virpi Kurkela and Jouni Pitkaranta wrote this article to describe how cow comfort is the most important part of the AMS barn successful design. Cow comfort and the ability to rest, eat, and milk in cow’s life will create a healthy environment and a productive cow. The cow loves her routine life and an AMS barn allows each cow to develop her own routine without fear and without forcing her to follow another cow’s or a dairy farmer’s routine. Lameness hurts the cow and milk production if she can not visit the AMS as often as she would like because it hurts when she walks. People must be trained for good stockmanship to handle cows gently and with low stress.

A barn built for the cows (Kurkela & Pitkäranta), Hoards Dairyman 11/2019