In this episode, you’ll hear from Wisconsin dairy farmer Mack Drees of Drees Dairy Farm. Mack is the “cow guy” on his family dairy. When he came home from college, the dairy needed to expand but didn’t want to have to manage more people. They decided to milk with robots in their new expansion.
Mack talks about whether he thinks it’s better to bite off a whole bunch of technology at once when going with robots or if staged adoption of technology is preferable. He also gives his answer as to whether the activity monitoring has paid for itself more in repro improvements or if cow health improvements for his registered Holstein herd are returning more of an investment.
This podcast was recorded during the 2022 National Holstein Convention in South Dakota this past summer. Mack was a participant on the Data and Innovation Summit producer panel. Listen to that panel here.
This podcast is brought to you by Zoetis.
If you’re looking for a new podcast, check out Fresh Cow Files, hosted by Tim Hammerich. In the episode, “Teamwork Makes the Dairy Work,” producers discuss how the success of their dairies happens when everyone is in sync and the importance of equipping employees to properly care for cows. They also discuss how every role on their dairies is important and share what antibiotic stewardship means to them. So once you finish what you’re currently listening to, check out Fresh Cow Files, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Season 4, Episode 31
Here is a breakdown of the episode:
Tell us about your farm. [~1:45]
Give us your experience transitioning your farm to milking robots. [~3:00]
If you had to do it over again, would you stairstep into technology or make a big leap into it all at one time? Why? [~5:00]
How long did it take for cows to get used to the robots? [~6:45]
At what age do you put your activity monitors on? [~9:00]
Explain your experience of using activity monitoring to dial in optimum breeding time. [~10:00]
In what ways is technology already providing a payback on your farm? [~11:15]
Do you think you get more of a payback from activity monitoring on the health or repro side of your farm? [~14:15]
In your opinion, how can farmers best utilize sort gates with monitoring? [~15:45]
Talk about how you do regular milk testing with your robots. [~19:45]
Explain your farm’s three-pronged approach to evaluating technology. [~25:00]
Describe how activity monitoring quantified the value of treatment vs. prevention. [~31:00]
What’s a decision you need to make in the upcoming months? [~33:30]
Follow Drees Dairy Farm online:
Are you a subscriber?
Keep up with our Progressive Dairy podcast episodes to gain insights from what is happening in the industry to new and evolving management techniques for your operation. Just like our magazine, we’ll cover a multitude of topics including human resources, business management, facilities, repro and genetics, feed and nutrition, calf and heifer raising, dry and transition cows, herd health, hoof health, milk quality, animal welfare and manure handling. Subscribe now to be notified of new releases.
Click here to find past issues and quick links to subscribe on your favorite platform.
