A South Dakota dairy farm that frequently provides farm tours to industry members, farmers and consumers developed a solution to maximize visitor experience while minimizing the disturbance to cows and employees in their maternity barn. 

The pending arrival of winter can bring with it feelings of joy and happiness as we look forward to the holiday season and the family festivities that surround it.

Bedding stalls, manure alley cleaning, footbaths and sorting are four activities that will need to be managed differently when installing robots. 

After a neighboring dairy installed fans in their freestall barns, Ryan Kroes was able to see firsthand the better results their neighbors had during the hot summer months.

Dry, non-lactating dairy cows are more thermo-tolerant relative to their lactating counterparts, as they are not putting high levels of energy into making milk.

Three dairy producers, each operating with more than a dozen milking robots, said using robots was a big transition for their farm. They’ve been closely analyzing the data to see how it’s paying off and setting goals for the future.