Milking equipment changes that made an impact on throughput

Progressive Dairy Editor Karen Lee

The definition of efficiency is “the ability to do something or produce something without wasting materials, time or energy.” Upgrading milking equipment – whether adding a new element to an existing system or an entirely new parlor – is one way to make efficiency gains. This article looks specifically at methods used by three farms to milk more cows in a day.

Five years ago, the Benthem family in McBain, Michigan, maxed out the capabilities of their double-12 herringbone parlor. Benthem Brothers Dairy had grown from 30 cows in 1981 – when brothers Doug and Bruce took over the operation from their parents – to 1,200 cows being milked twice a day.

See how these changes work on real dairies.

Weekly Digest: New Holstein ‘lifetime’ milk record tops 460,700 pounds

World Dairy Expo 2021 to remain in Madison, Wisconsin

PUT DATA TO WORK FOR BETTER MILK QUALITY

Daily maintenance tips to keep robots running smoothly

Ben Guelker for Progressive Dairy

Ten minutes a day will keep robot issues away. Proper daily maintenance routines are vital for robot owners who don’t want the robot calling in the middle of the night. Here is a list of items to check when you enter the robot room.

To get the most out of a milking robot, one of the most important tasks is to clean it on a daily basis, even multiple times a day. The use of good-quality water and correct cleaning tools in and around the robot is very important to ensure it will continue running well.

Make sure these items are on your daily checklist.

How to prepare for June Dairy Month

We hope to have positive conversations with the public about dairy farming, animal welfare, nutrition and sustainability, but we must also prepare for the negative attention we will undoubtedly receive from animal welfare activists.

Read more.

Get to know your workforce team better by learning about their culture

Katie Dotterer-Pyle for Progressive Dairy

Dairy farmer: “We employ 15 Mexicans here.”

Me: “Oh, are they all from Mexico?”

Dairy farmer: “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Me: “Then they’re not all Mexicans. That’s like calling me Canadian just because I’m a white girl.”

I’ve had this conversation countless times not only with people within the dairy industry, but outside of it too. For years now, the U.S. has called itself the “melting pot” or more recently, the “salad bowl” because of the many different races and ethnicities that make up our diverse population. It baffles me that some still don’t acknowledge other cultures or if they do, still uphold their own culture as superior.

You don't have to know a lot about other cultures, but you do need to respect them.

Three California dairies find more than meets the eye when milking with robots

Progressive Dairy Editor Karen Lee

Driven by a need to upgrade milking facilities and reduce dependence on labor, three different dairy farms opted for automated milking.

These dairymen and a provider of this technology discussed their implementation strategies and herd improvements during a panel discussion titled “People, Cows and Tech: Tips for Implementing Automation to Maximize Efficiency” at the virtual California Dairy Sustainability Summit in November.

Learn about the fringe benefits of milking robots.