Provided herein is an automatic teat treatment method and apparatus for carrying out a pre-or post-treatment operation on the teats of an individual dairy animal. The method and apparatus allow for improved time and resource efficiency in the context of automated teat treatment. The method uses a robot apparatus with a control system which robot is capable of carrying a teat treating device and imaging apparatus on an arm thereof, the method comprising the steps of initiating automatic detection of all the spatial teat positions of all n said teats of and individual animal using the imaging apparatus at a pre-or post treatment location and registering the spatial positions of all of the detected individual animal’s teats and deriving a dedicated treating action effective to move the treating device through a dedicated path defined by the registered spatial teat positions and initiating and carrying out the treating by movement of the treating device through the dedicated path. If not all of the relevant spatial positions of all animal’s teats are detected, then said method comprises the steps of either: registering the spatial position of each of the detected teats and deriving an adapted treating action effective to move the treating device through an adapted path defined by the registered spatial teat positions and by approximated spatial locations in lieu of the undetected teat positions, or, where no teat spatial positions have been detected: deriving a default treating action effective to move the treating device through a default treating path.
