Consistent daily and weekly owner maintenance is necessary to get the most from automated milking, feeding or cleaning systems. Regular cleaning, inspecting and checking components prevents costly downtime, protects milk quality and reduces stress on cows and farmers.

Here are the key features producers should look for when evaluating machines to support leaner teams.

A digital twin is a continuously updated virtual version of a real system. In dairy, that system might be an individual cow, a milking robot or the entire barn. The twin mirrors the real-time state of the animal or equipment it represents. When a cow walks to the feedbunk, her virtual counterpart records it. 

For Canadian farmers, regulatory compliance will limit the use of tiestall barns beginning in April 2027. If labour efficiency is motivating you, automated milking might be part of your plan. One of the first questions to answer is whether to retrofit milking robots into your existing tiestall barn or start over with a new facility.

If your cows could speak, would you listen? It’s the kind of question that makes people smile at first – a whimsical thought you might share over coffee. But for me, it became a serious challenge. If animals are constantly communicating, and we fail to hear them, what opportunities are we missing – not just for better welfare but for better farming?

Application drones are now a part of normal agricultural practices, but with new modern farming tools like these available, there are often many misconceptions. This technology requires practical thinking and a solid grasp on how it functions.

Application drones are a very exciting advancement to the drone industry. Like any equipment, we want to see how this type of investment pencils out – starting with an understanding of the fixed/variable overhead costs to see if it fits on your operation and what the return on investment (ROI) is on a piece of equipment such as a spray drone.

I asked ChatGPT whether farmers should upgrade their automated milking systems. The artificial intelligence (AI) answer was, “If the current system is outdated and requires frequent repairs; if newer technology offers clear efficiency, milk yield or labor savings; if financing options make the investment viable.” Those are good answers. I talked to several real farmers and got better answers.