Within agriculture, the dairy industry has long been at the forefront of adopting agriculture technology. How can dairies ensure their agricultural technology (ag tech) acquisitions come with real payback on their investment?

Dairy producers – Jesse Brutscher of DayStar Dairy and Greg Moes of MoDak Dairy Inc. – shared their trials and feats of adapting technology on their respective farms in a panel session during the 2025 Precision Dairy Conference.

Camera technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are currently being hyped to the dairy industry. Companies selling these technologies promise game-changing outcomes for producers who use them. The reality, though, is more of a mixed bag.

Many farms underestimate the challenge of identifying lameness, thinking only 5% to 10% of their herd is lame, when in reality, it may be closer to 20% to 25%. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) detection comes in – spotting signs the human eye might overlook.

A new webinar series from Progressive Dairy debuted this summer, and the manager of a 3,000-cow dairy in Bailey, Michigan, was the featured guest for the first episode. Dairyman Clare Alderink talked about success with new technology as well as some technology failures during his time on the Real Producer Exchange.

The dairy industry is continually evolving, from the Surge Bucket Milker to rotary parlors and automated milking equipment, from pen and paper records to stall-side cow information. And now, with technology advancing further and more quickly, paired with the onset of artificial intelligence (AI), the industry is tasked with the lofty goal of keeping up.

Milking parlors are the drumbeat of a dairy – fast-paced, dynamic environments where small changes make a big difference.

For Aaron Ninnemann, his family’s dairy farm is a classic example of a generationally run business whose family members have worked diligently for decades, making a name for themselves within the dairy industry. The Ninnemanns embraced automated milking in a tiestall barn retrofit to keep dairying alongside a growing cash crop operation.