Three things came to mind as I watched the cows on that farm. Clean, calm and content.. I am always amazed at how docile they remain around the robot milkers with all the sounds and movement that comes with them.
Amazing video as always Jan. And let us take a moment to show some sympathy/empathy to our friends Dima and Maxim whose country is under horrific conditions right now. With you guys❤🇺🇦🇨🇦
Must be really awful to get hundreds of billions of dollars, state of the art weaponry you almost immediately sell and get absolutely zero oversight on who they go to. Must be awful....
I have really enjoyed you farm tours. You have a natural Canadian polite, sincere, plain spoken, charming personality. I get you want to raise the production values of your videos and you might feel you sometimes come off a little geeky. The geekiness is your vulnerability that makes you so relatable. UA-cam is full of fake inauthentic people. You are a great photographer and have a natural sense for word economy.
There was 1 cow just hanging out beside the entry to the Miller and at 5:30 we see why. She's curious about how the machine works. You can see her head leaned in inspecting the arm as it washes her sister's teats. The camera angle changes but I'm pretty sure she watched rge second arm attaching to the teats too. How smart is that?
Had a dairy in Orland Ca a longtime ago. Milked about 100 head in elevated double three side openers. Would of loved to have a robot back then. I had a grinder mixer that I mixed sugar-beet pulp pellets, ground whole cotton seed, corn, rice mill, and ground amond hulls. Hell I even fed whole Oranges in the feed trough. You should see a cow chomp down on a whole orange, orange juice dripping from the side of the mouth. One more thing, out here in almond country, it is widely known that almonds are almonds on the tree and amonds off the tree. That is because they shake L out them getting them off the tree. Keep up the good work, I really enjoy your videos. Thanks
Thanks for posting this. I consume very little dairy these days. I am taken back to the late 1950's when Mrs Peabody taught me to milk a cow and treated me to a glass of milk from their new technology, a refrigerated holding tank. Truly state of the art for the day.
Jan, thank you. After you finish this series of videos, It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on which new technology may be seriously looked at to improve or steamline your dairy’s operations.
I have to research the "volunteer " foot bath have never even heard of the concept don't mind seen it, however it is not unreasonable to suspect that it would work as I have seen cattle go out of their way to browse on certain herbs and plants on occasion which are known to have medicinal qualities, we also give cows free access to straw to eat if they are not feeling well and this reduces the amount of high fibre we need to incorporate into the mix as most cows don't need much more than.5 kg but you can have some that need much more so they can go help themselves, working well in our system,, if a voluntary system works it would cut out a lot of messing around the dairy that's for sure.
Wow how things have changed in the last 40 years...in fact I remember many years ago when the rumor was that the milking's would be done with robots (before cell phone era) and we laughed at the idea. Thank you for sharing as it was a great enjoyment to see the newer technology and to be "walking" through the dairy barn again. Enjoy it now because some day you will have to let the next generation take over. I think you will miss it like I do.
We have 4 lely milking robots 1 juno, 2 alley scrapers and their calf feeder. And what a difference it has made. More time in the fields, more time with family, more time for hunting amd fishing and more time to keep up on other things.
Been stuck on the couch due to some health issues and in and out of the hospital so Ive been binging lol ! Day is made when a new video comes up usually gives me a laugh !
You must’ve gone to the ag show in Tulare. Only went their one time in the 30 yrs i lived in Ca.30 or so miles west of Tulare. You need to go check out other dairy’s in the area and see what they use. You’ll be very well intrigued. Be safe and have fun.
Rad facility ... the cows look very content and the robot milkers were awesome, she didn't even flinch when the machine was cleaning her teats, .... I wonder what the ROI is on one of those.
It looks that me my self taking tour and every thing is very cool! we see very big dairy farms up until and I hope you will give us a chance to see a very small farm for the future!
Enjoy that warm wind because when you get back to Canada we’ll I don’t need to say more it’s Canada 🍁. Very interesting content Thanks Jan. Does the different product in the feed make the milk taste different. Orange and almonds have a very distinct taste. Just wondering. But not all cows like the foot bath so won’t they just stay away from it. Can’t see that as being good or better.
Thanks for the tour Jan, it cool to see how different yet so similar those daisy do business and milk they're heard. I think the robots are a little slow per cow, it would take forever to milk a 1000 head heard. Aloha🤙🏼🤙🏼
Its called a voluntary milking system. Which means the cows have constant access to the robot and they milk when they feel like it, ie some cows will milk 3 times a day and others will milk 4 times. I think you work on 60 cows per robot.
Thank you for posting the robot video. I was wondering if they have a backup power supply. One wonders how big the generator would have to be. A big backup diesel generator would almost be a necessity to make sure of a consistent electrical supply. Your fact finding trip is definitely going to be interesting to see what you can incorporate in your dairy. One wonders if an "on-site" technician is required to make sure everything is working as it should. 😊
I'd love to see how they break in first time milkers. For us who did it manually (admittedly years ago) that was always a big production with hooves flying everywhere.
Ive been running the red robots in the province next to you for 4 years now, Its the way to go, even on large farms. Just need to be able to sort and you're set.
That's impressive. It's well laid out and has a very open look however you need the right climate. No point building that where you guys are from in Canada. You need a few walls 😃
you mentioned in previous videos having a fly issue. here's how to solve the problem: fill a plastic bag with some water, then hang it near a door or open window. The flies will not cross past the water bag. I know it sounds crazy but it works!
Jan, my dad was a dairy farmer back in the 1940s-1960s, and died very tragically at an early age, so I missed out a lot of the actual farming activities. No other better way to grow into adulthood, feed your neighbors and make a lasting difference. I have watched every video of yours, so my questions is... Do you ever shave?? You seem to have a 2-3 day growth all of the time. I know, shaving can be a pain, but I was simply wondering. You do excellent work, represent and support one of the most elite and important industries of the world, keep going, growing and thank you for what you present to us.
The dairy i work in we milk around 870 with 16 machines flat barn but my boss will be adding 3 robots soon from Delaval. Robots will probably be running by August
Jan & Brian, Really enjoyed this tour! Amazing technology until the computer crashes. Do they have a back up manual plan? Was solar part of their infrastructure with all that roof area? Are they supported with enough acreage to supply the base of their feed or is it all imported? It would be interesting to see how they mixed the feed. That 'tracking' system is amazing! I appreciate that you two keep your comments professional and respectful with a bit of insightful humor. Great job! Looking forward to the next Jan & Brian episode!
This size of herd normally buys all of their feed. I know that there are huge hay farms in sections of Arizona that have irrigation, and they supply to the huge dairy operations in Cal.,Arizona, and New Mexico. Grain I have no idea we’re it comes from.
Even if the computer crashes the robots will be able to keep milking for at least 24 hours because that’s how much backup information it stores I believe, and by that time the computer will already have been replaced by the technicians usually, you just won’t be able to add new cow information such as treatments and calving etc. Til the computer is restored
Janek, Thanks for responding with that great info. Sounds like a good solution for the computer crash, but do they recommend or require 'power' backup systems? We have had grid brown outs in the past here in SoCal, encouragement to avoid usage for large home appliances, etc. Is that a factor 'up there' in the central valleys?
@@jofarwell9744 I’m guessing not all farms have power back ups by you guys? Becouse here in Manitoba I haven’t heard of any farm that doesn’t have a backup generator, even if they milk with parlour
I would love to have seen that flush system work. It appears to keep the isles really clean and seems you can run it as many times a day as you want I guess.
I guess you have never heard of Halarda Farms near Carman Manitoba where there milk 1200 cows with 20 Lely robots.They also use many more Lely " gadgets" .Why don't you go and make a movie about them ? So we have them here in Canada just as well...
@@henrithelion I can't post a link. For some reason UA-cam won't let me paste it in this comment. But if you search for "saskdutchkid robot" it is the second result.
@@henrithelion ua-cam.com/video/o3Xtew0BKWI/v-deo.html Why not 310 Heat monitoring, pregnancy control, identification of cysts Swedish quality👍 but I really like Lelys too
Those dairy farms are quite nice. What do they sleep on in that dairy farm. I saw an awful lot of information about their sleeping quarters in Scotland. They sleep on water beds and the corrals are not set where they are they move so that the cow doesn’t get bumped every time she goes to lay down. And are these cows allowed to see a bull for service?
Hi Jan, thank you for the interesting video! The barn looks like an east german dairy farm. Only the roof is a light construction, since there is almost no snow in California. In Germany the barn would have 6 rows of beds instead of 12 rows and be twice as long for a better climate in the barn and better cross ventilation. The cows an robots look clean. We have been milking with a Lely Astronaut since 2001. Started in 2001 with an A2, since 2017 with an A4. The A5 looks very nice, the layout is also interesting with a central 4-robot-house and two small single-robot-houses and all 3 central units (CU) for 6 robots in the central robot-house (one CU supplies two robots each). Greeting from Germany, David
Another nice video! It would've been nice if the farm employee/manager would've talked more about what was going on, and I didn't see any Lely robots doing anything, other than milking. 🐂👍🇺🇸
Oh yes, back in the day unless they were a flatland grain farmer this area was dotted with dairy farms with 50, 80, 100, 150 cow herds whatever the land could produce feed for. Two were fairly large grade A producers for 3 Creameries within a 50 to 70 mile radius. The Grade B and C producers that was just about every other Farm , belonged to a co-op Cheese plant that produced local cheeses for grocery stores. The one in our area took the Overflow from the grade A producer's when the creameries were full. Most of the cheese plants shipped 80,000 lb of cheese weekly to Kraft. Sometimes just about twice that during Peak production seasons. Then when some of the corporate Dairy Industies started charging all kinds of different prices for their product to encourage the government to pass the milk stabilization bill. What used to be a stable income (when small grains were not )for the small Dairies was no longer feasible, a lot of milking parlors and storage tanks sit emptied if they didn't find a different use for them. "like storing corn squeezin's for biofuels". That last sentence was BS just to see if Google is still keeping tabs on me comments. I'm not a fan of The Rich and Powerful that run our government. Sorry seen too much crap in my 70 years. Now they have got robots doing the work of people to feed them. So I guess they thought it was time to start Coviding us out in 20(19).
You need to visit Fair Oaks Dairy in Northern Indiana. They milk 28,000 cows, most are milked in 100 stall circular milkers and are now converting the barns to robots of 12 robots per 2,800 cows. Milking is volunteer by the cows and milking in the robot barn goes on 24 hours a day. I just visited for the first time last month. They have an extremely large visitor center to start your tour and then take you to the barns by bus. Everything is explained by guides at each stop. They also have a hog operation, totally enclosed farrowing and produce an average of 13 pigs per litter and produce 80,000 piglets per year. It is also on the tour with guides. Well worth the 5-6 hours for a visit.
I am from the UK. There is a farm near me where there is an automatic milker, the cows come in from the fields when they need milking. It is on a nature reserve so anyone can go and watch. Mostly there is no one manning it. The cows just hove up when they want to be milked. If they turn up too soon the machine pushes them out. They get a portion of feed while they are milked, and the computer calculates the amount based on how much milk they are producing.
Three things came to mind as I watched the cows on that farm. Clean, calm and content.. I am always amazed at how docile they remain around the robot milkers with all the sounds and movement that comes with them.
Breed matters as well
Hope you had a great time in California, from the imperial co California.
Amazing video as always Jan. And let us take a moment to show some sympathy/empathy to our friends Dima and Maxim whose country is under horrific conditions right now. With you guys❤🇺🇦🇨🇦
Must be really awful to get hundreds of billions of dollars, state of the art weaponry you almost immediately sell and get absolutely zero oversight on who they go to. Must be awful....
I have really enjoyed you farm tours. You have a natural Canadian polite, sincere, plain spoken, charming personality. I get you want to raise the production values of your videos and you might feel you sometimes come off a little geeky. The geekiness is your vulnerability that makes you so relatable. UA-cam is full of fake inauthentic people. You are a great photographer and have a natural sense for word economy.
It's a really cool Barn, sometimes it Hard to Find Good worker's, having self-feeder's and milker It's way to go, Technology Amazing.
IT'S REALLY GREAT THAT YOU'RE GETTING TO SEE A LOT OF THE OTHER DAIRY OPERATIONS.
The entire layout and design of the place looks fresh af, I love it
God Bless them. I lived most of my life milking cows, & loved every day of it. Robots may have kept me in it.
What a beautiful farm. Clean and the cows look happy and it’s so quiet.
Thanks Jan for sharing the operations of a modern dairy and the use of robots in the process. Amazing.🤟🤟
There was 1 cow just hanging out beside the entry to the Miller and at 5:30 we see why. She's curious about how the machine works. You can see her head leaned in inspecting the arm as it washes her sister's teats. The camera angle changes but I'm pretty sure she watched rge second arm attaching to the teats too. How smart is that?
Ah yes…The “shit alleys” lol. Love this series. Bryan is a nice addition.
Thank you for this video, it is very interesting to watch.👍 🐄🐄🐄
Had a dairy in Orland Ca a longtime ago. Milked about 100 head in elevated double three side openers. Would of loved to have a robot back then.
I had a grinder mixer that I mixed sugar-beet pulp pellets, ground whole cotton seed, corn, rice mill, and ground amond hulls. Hell I even fed whole Oranges in the feed trough. You should see a cow chomp down on a whole orange, orange juice dripping from the side of the mouth.
One more thing, out here in almond country, it is widely known that almonds are almonds on the tree and amonds off the tree. That is because they shake L out them getting them off the tree.
Keep up the good work, I really enjoy your videos. Thanks
Wow! The kid shaved!
That's interesting, even cows can see where their milk is going !!! 😁😁😁😁😁
Thank you for doing it all and sharing. We are great full.
Glad you liked it!
Thanks for posting this. I consume very little dairy these days. I am taken back to the late 1950's when Mrs Peabody taught me to milk a cow and treated me to a glass of milk from their new technology, a refrigerated holding tank. Truly state of the art for the day.
Jan, thank you. After you finish this series of videos, It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on which new technology may be seriously looked at to improve or steamline your dairy’s operations.
I have to research the "volunteer " foot bath have never even heard of the concept don't mind seen it, however it is not unreasonable to suspect that it would work as I have seen cattle go out of their way to browse on certain herbs and plants on occasion which are known to have medicinal qualities, we also give cows free access to straw to eat if they are not feeling well and this reduces the amount of high fibre we need to incorporate into the mix as most cows don't need much more than.5 kg but you can have some that need much more so they can go help themselves, working well in our system,, if a voluntary system works it would cut out a lot of messing around the dairy that's for sure.
Wow how things have changed in the last 40 years...in fact I remember many years ago when the rumor was that the milking's would be done with robots (before cell phone era) and we laughed at the idea. Thank you for sharing as it was a great enjoyment to see the newer technology and to be "walking" through the dairy barn again. Enjoy it now because some day you will have to let the next generation take over. I think you will miss it like I do.
We have 4 lely milking robots 1 juno, 2 alley scrapers and their calf feeder. And what a difference it has made. More time in the fields, more time with family, more time for hunting amd fishing and more time to keep up on other things.
Thank you so much 😊
You guys look like you are having a good time.
Been stuck on the couch due to some health issues and in and out of the hospital so Ive been binging lol ! Day is made when a new video comes up usually gives me a laugh !
Hope you doing good
Amazing how quite and content the cows are. That’s the quietest barn I’ve ever seen or heard
You must’ve gone to the ag show in Tulare. Only went their one time in the 30 yrs i lived in Ca.30 or so miles west of Tulare. You need to go check out other dairy’s in the area and see what they use. You’ll be very well intrigued. Be safe and have fun.
Didn't see any head locks? Or did I miss them haha. Very innovative operation.
They wouldn’t have them in this barn, if they need to work on a cows they sort them out into those fetch pens out front!
WOW YOU ARE GETTING GOOD VACATION GOOD FOR YOU YOU HAVE EARNED IT
Hahaha yes I really did! Thank you!
Rad facility ... the cows look very content and the robot milkers were awesome, she didn't even flinch when the machine was cleaning her teats, .... I wonder what the ROI is on one of those.
Thanks for wearing the USA cap! You are a gentleman.
Thank You
Just fascinating!! Thanks for the tour.
It’s so quiet and they all look so relaxed
Thank you for taking the time and sharing your trip with us.
Greetings from Germany with 4 lely robots 😋
A big step forward in the industry
Lely Exos is the next.
This from the 80's
It looks that me my self taking tour and every thing is very cool! we see very big dairy farms up until and I hope you will give us a chance to see a very small farm for the future!
Neighbor just did 20 DeLaval VMS this winter. So far great.
Very interesting. Thanks.
8:00 cows are saying "look at those funny cows!" never seeing a person walk by.
Enjoy that warm wind because when you get back to Canada we’ll I don’t need to say more it’s Canada 🍁. Very interesting content Thanks Jan. Does the different product in the feed make the milk taste different. Orange and almonds have a very distinct taste. Just wondering. But not all cows like the foot bath so won’t they just stay away from it. Can’t see that as being good or better.
Good question! I'd like to get an answer for your question also.
WOW!!!! What a great post. Thank you so much. Through you we are seeing some of the most advanced technology in the dairy industry. God bless.
Glad you like it!
❤️California. My home state too (Orange county).
Awesome Video and Much Love From Kentucky, USA 🇺🇸
great video Jan. thank you both
Thanks for the tour Jan, it cool to see how different yet so similar those daisy do business and milk they're heard. I think the robots are a little slow per cow, it would take forever to milk a 1000 head heard.
Aloha🤙🏼🤙🏼
Its called a voluntary milking system. Which means the cows have constant access to the robot and they milk when they feel like it, ie some cows will milk 3 times a day and others will milk 4 times. I think you work on 60 cows per robot.
It’s hoard to imagine that many cows in a single operation. Love all the robotics they use. Thank you Jan
Amazing technology. Thanks for another great tour, Jan.
Thank you for posting the robot video. I was wondering if they have a backup power supply. One wonders how big the generator would have to be. A big backup diesel generator would almost be a necessity to make sure of a consistent electrical supply. Your fact finding trip is definitely going to be interesting to see what you can incorporate in your dairy. One wonders if an "on-site" technician is required to make sure everything is working as it should. 😊
Hello from Moosomin, Saskatchewan, Canada. Thanks for sharing your great video’s please keep them coming
Thanks for watching!! Your not to far from us!
I'd love to see how they break in first time milkers. For us who did it manually (admittedly years ago) that was always a big production with hooves flying everywhere.
Ive been running the red robots in the province next to you for 4 years now, Its the way to go, even on large farms. Just need to be able to sort and you're set.
Are the robots noisy Davee ?
My parents are on a dairy farm in Ireland
They are getting old but farmhouse is next to farmyard
The cows look really contented.
Yea cows are usually really calm in robot barns!
That's impressive. It's well laid out and has a very open look however you need the right climate. No point building that where you guys are from in Canada. You need a few walls 😃
Good morning
Cool , thanks 👍👌
That's interesting, even cows can see who & where their milk is going !!! 😁😁😁😁😁
you mentioned in previous videos having a fly issue. here's how to solve the problem: fill a plastic bag with some water, then hang it near a door or open window. The flies will not cross past the water bag. I know it sounds crazy but it works!
Very interesting and amazing technology thanks
Wow technology is absolutely insane 😳 when it works of course
Jan, my dad was a dairy farmer back in the 1940s-1960s, and died very tragically at an early age, so I missed out a lot of the actual farming activities. No other better way to grow into adulthood, feed your neighbors and make a lasting difference. I have watched every video of yours, so my questions is... Do you ever shave?? You seem to have a 2-3 day growth all of the time. I know, shaving can be a pain, but I was simply wondering. You do excellent work, represent and support one of the most elite and important industries of the world, keep going, growing and thank you for what you present to us.
Hey Jan , your farm is the best !!!
Great video of this dairy farm.
Very impressive set up! Brilliant video 💪🏻 🏴
Wow! That’s amazing! Wished we could’ve had robots milk our cows when I was growing up. Thanks for sharing.
The dairy i work in we milk around 870 with 16 machines flat barn but my boss will be adding 3 robots soon from Delaval. Robots will probably be running by August
That was so interesting thank you Jan
I assume Bryan is a dairy farmer also? Thanks for the tour.
Here in Europe you see Lely quite a lot. Great equipment in my opinion. Nice tour and vids Jan. Greetings 🇧🇪
just wow, thanks for filming and sharing this experience!
Thank you for this video...definitely cool...we've got quite a few in the uk and seems to be increasing in popularity
I think the robot milkers are the way to go, saves a LOT of labor if you can afford them.
Jan & Brian, Really enjoyed this tour! Amazing technology until the computer crashes. Do they have a back up manual plan? Was solar part of their infrastructure with all that roof area? Are they supported with enough acreage to supply the base of their feed or is it all imported? It would be interesting to see how they mixed the feed. That 'tracking' system is amazing!
I appreciate that you two keep your comments professional and respectful with a bit of insightful humor. Great job! Looking forward to the next Jan & Brian episode!
This size of herd normally buys all of their feed. I know that there are huge hay farms in sections of Arizona that have irrigation, and they supply to the huge dairy operations in Cal.,Arizona, and New Mexico. Grain I have no idea we’re it comes from.
Thanks for the information Dennis. Had no idea and interesting to see how far the reach for a gallon of milk!
Even if the computer crashes the robots will be able to keep milking for at least 24 hours because that’s how much backup information it stores I believe, and by that time the computer will already have been replaced by the technicians usually, you just won’t be able to add new cow information such as treatments and calving etc. Til the computer is restored
Janek, Thanks for responding with that great info. Sounds like a good solution for the computer crash, but do they recommend or require 'power' backup systems? We have had grid brown outs in the past here in SoCal, encouragement to avoid usage for large home appliances, etc. Is that a factor 'up there' in the central valleys?
@@jofarwell9744 I’m guessing not all farms have power back ups by you guys? Becouse here in Manitoba I haven’t heard of any farm that doesn’t have a backup generator, even if they milk with parlour
Amazing. But I'm wondering why there were sparks shot out from the machine for a short while, then a window closed up to block that hole.
Those were lasers to locate the teats.
@@Pharphette Thanks.
That's brilliant seeing the cows in the foot bath on there own
I would love to have seen that flush system work. It appears to keep the isles really clean and seems you can run it as many times a day as you want I guess.
I guess you have never heard of Halarda Farms near Carman Manitoba where there milk 1200 cows with 20 Lely robots.They also use many more Lely " gadgets" .Why don't you go and make a movie about them ? So we have them here in Canada just as well...
Just impressive,thanks for showing us
Nice trip nice job on your videos
Hi Jan,realy intressting to see how those robots are milking all those cows, 720 awesome, never seen that.thanks for the tour.
We want to see a Delaval V300! 🤪
He already did a video on a farm where they had those.
@@henryvandentop4834 link?
@@henrithelion I can't post a link. For some reason UA-cam won't let me paste it in this comment. But if you search for "saskdutchkid robot" it is the second result.
@@henrithelion ua-cam.com/video/o3Xtew0BKWI/v-deo.html
Why not 310
Heat monitoring, pregnancy control, identification of cysts Swedish quality👍 but I really like Lelys too
Those dairy farms are quite nice. What do they sleep on in that dairy farm. I saw an awful lot of information about their sleeping quarters in Scotland. They sleep on water beds and the corrals are not set where they are they move so that the cow doesn’t get bumped every time she goes to lay down. And are these cows allowed to see a bull for service?
Jan, thanks for the video. No headlocks in the stable. And very relaxed cows it seems. Genetics maybe?
Hi Jan,
thank you for the interesting video! The barn looks like an east german dairy farm. Only the roof is a light construction, since there is almost no snow in California. In Germany the barn would have 6 rows of beds instead of 12 rows and be twice as long for a better climate in the barn and better cross ventilation. The cows an robots look clean.
We have been milking with a Lely Astronaut since 2001. Started in 2001 with an A2, since 2017 with an A4. The A5 looks very nice, the layout is also interesting with a central 4-robot-house and two small single-robot-houses and all 3 central units (CU) for 6 robots in the central robot-house (one CU supplies two robots each).
Greeting from Germany, David
It's very interesting seeing how other dairy operated open barns like that wouldn't work in Wisconsin
So when are you coming to Tuttle Oklahoma and visit Braum's Dairy?
... Cheers ...
Good video
Amazing 🤩
Great video guys. Some amazing equipment. Thanks.
Another nice video!
It would've been nice if the farm employee/manager would've talked more about what was going on, and I didn't see any Lely robots doing anything, other than milking. 🐂👍🇺🇸
Thanks for the awesome educational video! Very interesting to see other farming operations.
Another excellent video
udderly fascinating
Its almost not imaginable to me what size these dairys are.
We had 36 cows + 14 heifers back in the day.
They got almost as many Robots..
Oh yes, back in the day unless they were a flatland grain farmer this area was dotted with dairy farms with 50, 80, 100, 150 cow herds whatever the land could produce feed for. Two were fairly large grade A producers for 3 Creameries within a 50 to 70 mile radius. The Grade B and C producers that was just about every other Farm , belonged to a co-op Cheese plant that produced local cheeses for grocery stores. The one in our area took the Overflow from the grade A producer's when the creameries were full. Most of the cheese plants shipped 80,000 lb of cheese weekly to Kraft. Sometimes just about twice that during Peak production seasons. Then when some of the corporate Dairy Industies started charging all kinds of different prices for their product to encourage the government to pass the milk stabilization bill. What used to be a stable income (when small grains were not )for the small Dairies was no longer feasible, a lot of milking parlors and storage tanks sit emptied if they didn't find a different use for them. "like storing corn squeezin's for biofuels". That last sentence was BS just to see if Google is still keeping tabs on me comments. I'm not a fan of The Rich and Powerful that run our government. Sorry seen too much crap in my 70 years. Now they have got robots doing the work of people to feed them. So I guess they thought it was time to start Coviding us out in 20(19).
love the farm tours great videos
You need to visit Fair Oaks Dairy in Northern Indiana. They milk 28,000 cows, most are milked in 100 stall circular milkers and are now converting the barns to robots of 12 robots per 2,800 cows. Milking is volunteer by the cows and milking in the robot barn goes on 24 hours a day. I just visited for the first time last month. They have an extremely large visitor center to start your tour and then take you to the barns by bus. Everything is explained by guides at each stop. They also have a hog operation, totally enclosed farrowing and produce an average of 13 pigs per litter and produce 80,000 piglets per year. It is also on the tour with guides. Well worth the 5-6 hours for a visit.
That's a lotta cows
I am from the UK. There is a farm near me where there is an automatic milker, the cows come in from the fields when they need milking. It is on a nature reserve so anyone can go and watch. Mostly there is no one manning it. The cows just hove up when they want to be milked. If they turn up too soon the machine pushes them out.
They get a portion of feed while they are milked, and the computer calculates the amount based on how much milk they are producing.
very interesting. how do they know if each cow is milked. thanks for sharing.
Computers