ROBOTS EASE FARM WORKLOAD

Athens, Stratford managers also say systems good for cow health

The public had an opportunity this past weekend to visit robot milking barns in Athens and Stratford after indulging in their favorite annual June dairy breakfasts.

On Saturday, the Athens Dairy Breakfast at Veterans Memorial Park included bus tours to and from the breakfast to Miltrim Farms in rural Athens. On Sunday, people ate at the Stratford FFA Dairy Breakfast held at Country Aire ballroom before traveling to tour Stueber Farms in rural Stratford. Both dairy farms, although they are of different sizes, incorporated Lely robot milkers into their dairy operations a few years ago.

David Trimner first gave a history of Miltrim Farms to people riding the school bus down the center aisles of the large dairy’s barns. His grandfather, Mark Mueller; father, Scott Trimner; and uncle, Tom Mueller; started Miltrim Farms in 1988. They began milking a few hundred cows in a double eight herringbone parlor. Today’s Miltrim Farms ownership group consists of David Trimner and his wife, Jessica; Tom and Lorene Mueller; David’s mother, Kathy Trimner Roth; along with longtime farm employee Andy Miller and his wife, Jessica Miller.

David Trimner said Miltrim Farms currently milk 3,000 cows, of which 1,800 are milked by 30 Lely robots and the other 1,200 cows are still milked in the conventional double 24 herringbone milking parlor, which milks 24 cows on each side. He said Miltrim Farms crops about 5,200 acres of land consisting of corn for corn silage and haylage that is a mixture of alfalfa, grass and clovers to feed the dairy cows. He said the dairy farm just finished making 1,300 acres of first crop hay on Saturday morning before the farm tours began, and it would also finish planting corn on Saturday.

Miltrim Farms is reaping the benefi ts of dairy automation that cut down on the cost of hiring employees to milk the cows while improving the dairy herd’s health.

“Our cows wear collars, which are like Fidbits for cows, that track their activity and how they are eating,” David Trimner said. “By monitoring that data, we can watch and see how the cows are doing and tell if they are not feeling well before we can see they are sick. A cow becomes more active when she is ready to be bred, so that combined with our robot milkers continues to be a powerful tool to provide us more health data so we can take really good care of the cows.

“The robot can monitor through algorithms how much milk that cow is expected to give. It reads the cow’s collar and knows who she is and can tell if she is ready to be milked and if she is going to give enough milk. On average, the cows get milked by the robot 2.9 times per day. Some cows get milked up to five times per day if they are giving 200 pounds, or 20-plus gallons, of milk or maybe they are only getting milked two times per day if they are later in their lactation cycle and are only giving maybe 70 pounds of milk. If the cow isn’t ready to be milked yet, then the robot will open up the front gate to kick that cow out and let the next cow come in.”

John Stueber of rural Stratford provided a brief history on the dairy farm he owns with his wife, Mary Stueber, in the town of Cleveland. John’s grandfather, Joe Stueber, started the dairy farm in 1868 and he operated it until 1936 or 1937 when John’s father, Anton Stueber, took over the dairy farm’s ownership. John left the United States Army and began operating the dairy farm in 1968 when his father retired.

Today, Stueber Farms is milking almost 400 cows with six Lely robots it began using on Jan. 7, 2019. The dairy farm has 1,100 acres of crops. John and Mary’s sons, Jason and Jake Stueber, are full-time employees who manage the dairy farm’s operations. John and Mary’s nephew, Jeff Kirsch, is another full-time employee along with Tim Mengel. Stueber Farms has five full-time employees in the summer when John and Mary’s grandson, Garet Zoellick, works on the dairy farm. The dairy farm also employs many family members part-time including John and Mary’s grandsons, Gavin Zoellick, Coy Stueber, Caden Stueber and Lucas Gudgeon.

Jason Stueber is happy the dairy farm implemented Lely robot milkers two years ago.

“Our employee management is way easier because we don’t need to have all the extra employees to milk the cows,” he said. “Our cow health has also gotten more consistent and better, because of the consistency of the robots.

“Using robots are the best way to milk cows individually because each cow is getting milked out properly every single time, whereas humans wouldn’t be as consistent in milking each cow; they need consistency because cows are creatures of habit.”