--- title: Turning a Crazy Idea into Reality description: The Pangrac and Olson families' dairy operations converted to robotic milking with Lely automation. image: https://www.lelylife.com/hubfs/LelyCow_468x314.jpg --- - [Home](https://www.lelylife.com/) - [About](https://info.lely.com/about) - [Contact](https://www.lely.com/us/about-lely/contact/) - [Coffee Talks](https://coffeetalks.lelylife.com) - [Lely.com](https://www.lelyna.com) [automatic-feeding-system](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/automatic-feeding-system), [cow-health](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/cow-health), [feed-intake](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/feed-intake), [feeding](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/feeding), [lely-vector](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/lely-vector), [milk-quality](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/milk-quality), [milk-yield](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/milk-yield), [robotic-dairy](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/robotic-dairy), [smart-feeding](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/smart-feeding) [Listen Now](https://www.lelylife.com/automated-feeding-delivers-producer-proven-results?hsLang=en-us) # Turning a Crazy Idea into Reality Posted by [Team Lely](https://www.lelylife.com/author/team-lely) on Oct 28, 2014 ![Team Lely](https://www.lelylife.com/hubfs/PersonaVideo/logo2.png) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) Read an [article](http://www.dairystar.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=10437&TM=55301.82) by Krista Kuzma with *Dairy Star* on a family operation that converted to using Lely robotic automatic milking systems. Read this excerpt below. *LEWISTON, Minn. - The Pangrac and Olson families use a simple motto on their farm: Never turn down a crazy opportunity without looking at it first. * *They're glad they follow this mantra because one of their crazy opportunities recently turned into a reality. Dale and Carmene Pangrac, their daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Andy Olson, along with the Olsons' children - Mallory (7), Gavin (4) and Amelia (3) - have been using two robots for nearly two years to milk their organic herd of 150 cows on their farm near Lewiston, Minn. * *"It gets better each year," Kim said about using the robots to milk the cows on their farm.* *The two robots are set up check-out style, with the milkers sharing their maintenance room and each robot on opposite sides. The robots share a holding pen with cows entering the stall from the rear and exiting the front, then using the same lane to exit the barn into the pasture. * *While visiting the robots, the cows are fed cracked dry corn and a liquid soybean oil on top. In the summer, this is the only supplemented feed the cows are given. The rest comes from pasture.* *"It's definitely a different way of managing them," he said. "As long as you don't use them as an excuse not to be with the cows, they work."* *One of the biggest learning curves was figuring out what all the reports mean.* *"We know more about our cows than we ever did before," Andy said. "It's like having a doctor's visit each time they are milked."* *The family also likes how the robots work with their herd, which they certified organic in 2005.* Read the entire article [here](http://www.dairystar.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=10437&TM=55301.82).   [![Cow exiting robotic automatic milking system](https://www.lelylife.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Lely-Cow-300x200.jpg?width=300&name=Lely-Cow-300x200.jpg)](https://www.lelylife.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Lely-Cow-1.jpg?hsLang=en-us) This photo shows a cow exiting a Lely robotic automatic milking system.   Tags: [Lely Astronaut](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/lely-astronaut), [Robotic Milking](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/robotic-milking), [Testimonial](https://www.lelylife.com/topic/testimonial) Submit your email to subscribe to Lely North America Blog Notifications! 1948 Lely Parkway Pella, Iowa 50219 641-621-2700 [![Share on facebook](https://www.lelylife.com/2014/10/(missing%20asset%20'facebook-color.png'))](https://www.facebook.com/LelyNorthAmerica/) [![Share on twitter](https://www.lelylife.com/2014/10/(missing%20asset%20'twitter-color.png'))](https://twitter.com/dairyrobot) [![Share on instagram](https://www.lelylife.com/2014/10/(missing%20asset%20'instagram-color.png'))](https://www.instagram.com/dairyrobot) [![Share on youtube](https://www.lelylife.com/2014/10/(missing%20asset%20'youtube-color.png'))](https://www.youtube.com/user/LelyDairyLife) [![Share on bloglink](https://www.lelylife.com/2014/10/(missing%20asset%20'bloglink-color.png'))](https://www.lelylife.com)