Dairy barns aren’t meant to be havens for birds. While European starlings are often the most visible and destructive birds on dairy farms, they typically don’t present a year-round concern. But other birds do.

Rosebrin Farms Ltd., located near Chilliwack, British Columbia, in the beautiful Fraser Valley, is the home of Brad and Lisa Roseboom and their family. Brad’s father established a dairy operation in the area in 1957, and Brad came home to farm in 1984. For a while, he farmed with his brother, but 11 years ago, he and Lisa established Rosebrin as a separate operation. Lisa says this decision was made with their four sons in mind as well as to provide an opportunity for their special-needs daughter, Melissa.

When talking to Brett Feldpausch, manager and partner of his family’s dairy farms, Rich-Ro Dairy Farms in central Michigan, you can tell he takes his job seriously. “We have good employees, but we want to make sure they have the tools to do their jobs well,” Feldpausch says. That is why he installed his version of a parlor timer.

Editor’s note: This article is the second in a series. Click here to read the first article. Once the robots are fired up and the real journey has begun, it is time to focus on the right areas by planning for a bright future. Keep in mind that with a good plan in place nothing but good things will happen, and from now the sky is the limit.

While not much has changed today within the black-and-white Holsteins of a century ago, that’s less true for other things: television (black and white to color), gasoline (leaded to unleaded), telephones (wired to wireless and cellular). You get the picture; change is everywhere and happening faster than ever before, which includes the fuels we use to power diesel engines in the trucks, tractors and machines on the farm.

Can you name this tool of dairy days gone-by?