Dairy Robot Radio

La Ferme A. St-Hilaire SENC à St-Odilon-de-Cranbourne, au Québec, préparait le virage robotisé de sa production laitière depuis plus de 6 ans avant que son projet se concrétise en décembre 2018. Une décision réfléchie pour assurer l’avenir de la ferme et stimuler la relève, déjà bien établie. Audrée St-Hilaire, copropriétaire de la ferme, se joint à Guillaume Peeters pour parler de démarrage et d’automatisation.

As we enter the spring of 2020, the world finds itself in a very unique place. Many businesses have closed their doors and are finding new ways to work during the COVID-19 situation. Lely continues to keep working, learning and serving our Lely Centers and dairy producers to allow farming to keep moving forward. Our Lely Centers’ Farm Management Support (FMS) and Technical Service Support (TSS) staff continue to support farms online and remotely all across North America even during this uncertain time. Bellana Putz is joined by Daan Stehouwer of Lely North America and Dave Mealy of Lely Center Leedstone to share more about the partnership between Lely corporate and Lely Centers, and how they interact with farmers.

Dan and Debbie’s Creamery was the recipient of the Way to Dairy Award, and is currently in the midst of construction for their new facility. Their Lely Vector automatic feeding system and Lely Astronaut robotic milking system recently arrived on the farm, and the Takes family is very excited for start-up to begin. This week we are joined by Josie Rozum who will share her family’s story, and how Lely dairy robotics fit into their dairy’s future.

Heglar Creek Dairy in Cassia County, Idaho added Lely robots to their operations less than a year ago. Fast-forward to today and their cows are average 175 – 200 lbs. of milk production per day. This week we are joined by herd manager Austin Hyde and we discuss Lely Super Cows and how the operations have changed since adding Lely robots.

The Harrison family of Sweetwater Valley Farm are 5th generation farmers with over 200 years of farming. They currently have 2,000 dairy cows which makes Sweetwater Valley Tennessee’s first Lely Dairy XL farm. The Harrison family use about 10% of the milk produced to make cheese which you can watch being made and sample on the farm. Listen as Mary Lyndal tells us about her family’s farm, the agri-tourism business and using Lely robots for ultimate cow comfort.

Liners play a pivotal role in milk harvest because they are the only product that actually touches the cow during the milking process. With so many different options on the market, producers may have a hard time determining the proper liner for their herd. Kaden Schvaneveldt, Lely’s Aftermarket Field Specialist, joins host Bellana Putz to reveal the many different liners offered by Lely, the benefits of each and what producers should consider when choosing a liner for their robot.

Discovering the true wants and needs of cows has allowed producers and robots to increase production and maximize herd potential. Listen along as Lely North America Milking Technologies Manager Paul Peetz joins host Bellana Putz to discuss perfecting the milking technique with automation and its impact on animal welfare.

As a lot of dairies look to expand their herd to remain sustainable, Twin Brook Creamery chose a different route. In 2006 when Larry Stap’s daughter and son-in-law wanted to join the family dairy operation, they considered growing their herd to 1,000 milking cows. Instead, they opted to open a creamery and add value to their raw commodity with the help of robots. Listen as Larry joins us to discuss how robotics changed their dairy operation, marketing techniques for their creamery and more.

In the third installment of our June Dairy Month where we feature one family dairy each week who is producing and selling dairy products from the milk harvested from their cows, host Bellana Putz is joined by Troy Westendorp of MOO-ville Dairy. Listen along as they discuss the factors that played into their decision to open a creamery, such as kids interested in coming back to farm and the ability to control prices more consistently.

The den Haan family has cows on their farm with pedigrees they can trace back 20 generations. Because they have this type of data and can track the cows all the way through the bottling process, they chose to exclusively use A2 genetics in their herd, and one year ago, Sheldon Creek Dairy was the first dairy to bring A2 milk to Canada.

Josie (Takes) Rozum from Dan and Debbie’s Creamery joins host Bellana Putz to discuss the ins and outs of owning and operating a dairy and creamery with family on a daily basis. Winners of Lely’s The Way To Dairy Award, Josie also talks about the transition that is happening in the family dairy with two Lely Astronaut A5 robotic milking systems that will soon be implemented and the flexibility her family is looking forward to experiencing.

Preston Vincent is joined by Darin Strauss, Dairy Operations Manager at Majestic Crossing Dairy. Majestic Crossing Dairy retrofitted their barns in 2017 and currently house 13 Lely robots. With data from almost three years backing them, Majestic Crossing Dairy is now able to make small tweaks and see the impact it has on their operation, allowing them to maximize their bottom line.

Northeast Iowa Community College is home to Iowa’s Dairy Center, a facility that features classrooms and a working dairy farm with two Lely Astronaut A4 milking robots. Open to students participating in agriculture programs, the facility offers the ability to not only see the robots working first-hand, but the opportunity to work with them. Mariah Schmidt from NEICC joins Bellana Putz and discusses how this facility prepares students for careers working with robots.

Two years after their first start up, Homestead Dairy is currently the largest robotic dairy in North America with 36 milking robots. Brian Houin joins Preston Vincent and talks about why they chose robots, the factors that influenced the decisions they made prior to their first startup and the takeaways they have learned since. Brian also discusses the differences he has seen in herd behavior, health, reproduction, production, genetics and more.

Automation in the barn is becoming more frequent every day. Taking the place of daily tasks, the Lely Vector automatic feeding system and the Lely Juno automatic feed pusher are examples of robots that will add consistency, efficiency and an increased level of management for your operation. Listen as Lely North America’s Feeding and Barn Product Manager, Dan Schreiner, talks about the many benefits dairy producers and cows will experience with automation.

Adam Griffin joins Preston Vincent and Dairy Robot Radio to talk about the advancements in data collection with the new T4C 3.10 update and to offer insight on how to get the most out of your data. Plus, a sneak peek at some cool data transfer capabilities that will be available in June 2019.

John Postma from Postma Dairy in California talks about different robot sizing within a pen and his experience a year into robotic milking.

Dairy Robot Radio, the show that provides answers to your most pressing questions about dairy farming and automation. Each episode will focus on a major topic within the dairy industry and will feature experts from Lely and throughout the industry to help provide information and different perspectives on automation total solutions.