Read an article 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.
