Progressive Events: Automation, technology will play greater role in the future of dairy

Ongoing struggles with labor costs and availability are at the forefront of increased discussions regarding automation in many industries, and dairy is no exception. Alltech’s annual Dairy School took the discussion beyond current labor pains to address technology’s impact on future dairy management.

Held Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, the event featured tours of three farms utilizing automation and technology, followed by a day of formal presentations at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. With more than 230 attendees, including dairy farmers, nutritionists, veterinarians and other technical experts, topics ranged from precision feeding, calf management and the implementation of new milking systems to the financial implications facing dairy producers.

Farm tours

Starting the two-day event, two coach buses traveled through northeastern Wisconsin to find various forms of technology being implemented on dairy farms.

The first stop was Green Valley Dairy in Krakow, Wisconsin. This farm featured an automated milking facility with 12 robots built in addition to the farm’s conventional parlor system. Two years ago, the farm converted to capturing and shipping renewable natural gas from its anaerobic digester and reuses the dried solids for bedding.

At Hoffman’s Happy Holsteins in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, the tour group saw one of only several automated rotary parlors in the country in operation. Cows are brought to the parlor where the milking unit self-attaches, cleans, dries, stimulates, milks and post-dips on its own. The parlor will stop on its own to allow a slow milker to finish and then start rotating again. With this technology, the farm has only one employee monitoring the milking process.

The final tour stop at Wichman Farms in Seymour, Wisconsin, showcased interacting automation from the milking barn to the calf facility. The Wichman family converted to automated milking in 2013 when they built a new facility with four robots. Six years later, they built a new group calf barn, 200 feet from the automated milking barn. Using a small pasteurizer in the milking barn, they collect waste milk from the cows and pasteurize it before piping it underground to the calf facility where it is stored and fed out through two automated calf feeders.

Weiland: Impact of technology

In kicking off the formal program, Dan Weiland, Alltech’s U.S. dairy business manager, said that in addition to genetics, technology “will take dairy to the next level” by 2050. In addition to robotic milking, feeding technology will lead to more consistent diets and automated cooling systems will enhance cow comfort while minimizing water usage. Those and other technology, such as systems that monitor a cow’s breath for methane emissions, will have a far-reaching impact on future dairy managers, Weiland said. One key to success will be working through all the data generated and using it to manage cows individually.

DeVries: Feeding technology

While addressing the need for additional precision in dairy management, Trevor DeVries, professor and dairy cattle behavior and welfare research chair at the University of Guelph, focused specifically on the use of feeding technology. While dairy feeding is still generally managed at the group level, robotic milking combined with other technology will provide more opportunity to manage cows at the individual level, he said.

When it comes to managing cows, feeding requires both accuracy and precision, DeVries said. Accuracy means hitting the feeding target, matching the delivered ration to the formulation, while precision means hitting the same spot on the target every day to meet the cow’s consistency needs.

“We want consistency in the way that we house, manage and milk cows,” DeVries said. At the same time, striving for more consistency in feed ingredients, mixing, delivery and pushing up feed leads to more efficient and consistent digestion, cow health and productivity.

“The reality is: For most farms, the process of mixing and delivering feed is something that is controlled by humans,” he said. “The challenge we have with any human-operated task is the risk of variation, both within a person as well as between persons.”

DeVries expects dairy labor challenges will continue to impact dairy, creating bottlenecks and inconsistency, and fuel the need for automation and technology adoption.

“Automated technologies, particularly in feeding, are allowing us to maintain greater accuracy and precision in diet preparation and delivery,” he concluded.

Costa: Starting early

In “Setting Up the Next Generation: Raising Calves to Go Above and Beyond,” Joao Costa, dairy instructor and researcher at the University of Kentucky, summarized studies on calves, including nutrition, housing and behavior.

Automation and technology in calf-raising is providing the tools to collect data that is changing the management relationship with calves, Costa said. Those changes can improve calf nutrition, socialization, diseases and calf health.

“If we want to raise those calves, we need to do it right from the beginning, especially with nutrition,” Costa said. Automated feeding systems can help deliver milk and feed to calves when they want it, and using activity monitors in calves provides early detection of the onset of disease, well before clinical signs appear.

Costa said cows of the future will have to be adaptable, able to thrive in a complex environment. He said individual housing of calves leads to later social ranking, increased aggression and increased fear response. He said socialization between and among calves at an early age improves social facilitation and learning as they age, with a big impact on their future productivity. Additionally, calves that "learn" technology early in life may be better suited for robotic milkers and other technology as cows.

“We need to proactively plan what we expect the calves to do and change automated management to do what we want to do,” Costa said.

Rodenburg: An automation mindset

Jack Rodenburg of DairyLogix Consulting in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, shared insights and numbers he’s collected while working with dairy farmers adopting automation and technology over the past two decades. He reviewed experiences with automated systems covering milking, feeding, bedding, manure handling and calf management.

When it comes to adopting automation, Rodenburg said embracing technology frequently requires a change in mindset.

“A lot of older dairy farmers tell me they’re too old and not making changes while waiting for the kids to take over,” he said. “I would really like to encourage you to embrace the idea of staying relevant and challenging yourself with new ideas and new approaches. It also will teach your children the right things and give them the right example.”

Rodenburg described variations in performance and challenges among automated milking systems, urging producers to match those attributes with personal farm goals and herd size.

“Be aware and understand those differences and pick the things that matter to you and write the protocols for the things you then have to adapt to,” he said. “But I think as robots get better and cheaper, and labor gets harder to find and is more expensive, it's really time to revisit that, and I think today robotic milking fits everywhere.”

However, he urged producers to look at the expected life of their current milking systems.

“The time to invest in new technology is when the old technology is worn out. It can't replace the parlor you bought five years ago but haven't paid for yet,” he said. “So when I said I think a robot is in everyone's future, it might be 20 years from now when your parlor is at the point where [it’s time to be replaced].”

In terms of the newness of technology and companies developing new products, he advised producers to avoid being guinea pigs. “It's nice to be leading edge, but you need to avoid the bleeding edge,” Rodenburg said.

Monger: Evaluating financials

Cassie Monger of Compeer Financial discussed adoption of dairy automation, especially robotics, from a financial perspective. 

Raised on a dairy near St. Cloud, Minnesota, Monger shared experiences as both a producer and a lender. She recalled a time about seven years ago when her family farm was faced with challenges in finding adequate labor and considering a move toward automated milking. Initially, they encountered a lender with little knowledge of the technology.

“We're now working with advisers on our farm where we need them to challenge us to make sure we're geared up for success,” she said. “It's truly about what we know, who we know and what they know so they can really bring value back to us.”

Considering technology adoption first requires assessing where the dairy currently is in terms of management capabilities, the condition of facilities and production metrics, and gauging where the dairy is compared to others. That helps determine whether the dairy can make improvements without significant investments.

It’s also important to know the dairy’s equity position to determine whether it’s in the position to borrow money to invest in technology – along with related items such as purchasing additional cows, expanding or improving facilities, or a manure-handling system.

Frequently, she noted, producers look at the capital investment but forget to include operating costs – including repairs and maintenance, supplies and energy costs – when comparing automation systems.

“Robotics is an area where we tend to see the most variances when it comes to operating expenses and how it impacts income,” Monger said. “If you're only looking at the capital costs, you're going to come up with an incomplete analysis. There are a lot of other factors that go into comparing these systems.”

Monger warned that automation may redefine and raise the caliber of labor needs on the dairy, but not eliminate it. It will also require changes in cow management.

“We know these new technologies and systems improve our efficiencies, and they're giving us more data to manage our cows better, to manage our dairies better, through more targeted feeding and a focus on improving overall cow health, leading to increased productivity,” she said. “At the end of the day, our main goal is really managing these tools so we can be the most effective.”

Alltech Wisconsin names MVE award winners

Progressive Dairy Editor Dave Natzke

Recognizing the importance and value of dairy employees, the Alltech Dairy School, held in early December in Green Bay, Wisconsin, featured the presentation of the 2022 Most Valuable Employee (MVE) Awards.

Awarded by Alltech Wisconsin, the MVE award recognizes top dairy farm employees in Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern Illinois. Nominations are made by farm managers, dairy owners, farm consultants or nutritionists, with emphasis on employee work ethic, perseverance, honesty and integrity.

Winning the 2022 MVE Award was Derek Dusek of Dusek Family Farm in Pepin, Wisconsin.

Alltech Wisconsin presented 2022 Most Valuable Employee (MVE) Awards during the Alltech Dairy School, held in early December in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Award recipients were: first place, Derek Dusek (center), pictured here with (left to right) Lee Kloeckner of AgPartners, Bailey Fagerland, Gabriella and Sue Dusek.

Nominated by Lee Kloeckner of AgPartners, Dusek had the desire to get involved on his family’s dairy farm early in life. At the age of 3, he would sneak out in the morning to help his father and grandfather do chores. As he got older, he could not wait to get home from school to help with farm activities and would try to convince the bus driver to drop him off at the field where they may have been working at the time. When Dusek was in high school, he and his father, Mark, began to make plans to build a new parlor and grow their dairy herd.

In the fall of 2018, Mark was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. During his father’s medical treatment, Derek was forced to take on additional challenges and overcome limited labor availability. When Mark passed away on Aug. 30, 2019, Derek was faced with a decision to quit farming or carry on his father’s legacy.

Choosing to do what he loved, Dusek began to rebuild the herd. In February 2022, the family leased a nearby dairy facility with a parlor and freestall barn and are now milking about 160 cows. Derek has become the father figure to his 14-year-old sister and works closely with his brothers to complete the day-to-day tasks on the farm.

Kloeckner said Derek’s perseverance and excellence compelled him to nominate Dusek for the Alltech award.

“He went from working with his father to being the person in charge; Derek does it all,” Kloeckner said.

“Dairy farmers face many challenges, and in situations such as Derek’s, they must wake up the next morning and continue to milk cows even after losing a loved one,” said Jorge Delgado, manager of the Alltech Training, Talent Development and Retention Program for Dairy Workers.

Other finalists

The other finalists honored during the Alltech Dairy School included Angel Sánchez and Estela Melenudo of Zirbel Dairy Farm, DePere, Wisconsin, nominated by Kris and Chelsea Scheider; and Mitch Guyette of Norm-E-Lane Dairy, Chili, Wisconsin, nominated by Jim Barmore of GPS Dairy Consulting.

Second place, Angel Sánchez and Estela Melenudo of Zirbel Dairy Farm, DePere, Wisconsin.Sánchez and Melenudo joined Zirbel Dairy Farm during the beginning phases of a farm transition and expansion. Since then, Sánchez has excelled in areas of animal health, worker relations, parlor troubleshooting and equipment maintenance. Melenudo’s specialty is stockmanship, managing individual cows and cow groups. Together, they’ve grown to become the foundation for the dairy’s past 15 years of success.

“While all of those things make them worthy of this honor, their humble dedication, care and devotion to the farm is unwavering,” the Scheiders said in their nomination form. “They have persevered with us through expansions, labor issues, animal health crises and bad weather – all while hardly missing a day of work.”

Third place, Mitch Guyette of Norm-E-Lane Dairy, Chili, Wisconsin. Photos courtesy of Alltech.

Joining Norm-E-Lane Dairy as a cattle feeder out of college, Guyette exhibited a strong desire for learning and involvement. His responsibilities have grown to include managing and operating the feeding center for the 2,300-cow dairy.

“Along with his desire to learn and always better himself, Guyette is very conscientious about his performance, the herd’s performance and the team he works with,” Barmore said. “His caring, positive and respectful personality, along with being an effective communicator, makes him a great team member. He is a powerful example for all of us for his dedication and perseverance.”

“The best employees add value to the dairy by thriving in their roles, maintaining their responsibilities, creating a safe and positive work environment for their co-workers and speaking highly of their employers, both on and off the farm,” Delgado said. “When dairy farms and their employees develop long-term relationships and celebrate each other’s hard work, everyone involved reaps valuable benefits.”