Operating motorized equipment is an essential part of running a farm and is often required for day-to-day tasks, but it is important to remember that any type of motorized equipment comes with significant potential hazards.

As a ruminant nutritionist specializing in TMR mixer technology, one of the common questions I am asked is “How long should my TMR mixer knives last?”

Early adopters of automatic milking systems have primarily been farms with 240 cows or less. According to Jack Rodenburg of DairyLogix, there are “probably less than 60 dairies worldwide with more than 500 cows and traditional single-box robots.”

Quality forage production and purchased feed is the largest single cost on your dairy operation. In many cases, our ability to produce and deliver consistent forages on a daily and yearly basis forecasts the success of our herd’s milk production, reproduction and health performance.

The value of farm machinery in Canada has appreciated by 51 percent over the last 15 years. This appreciation is driven by increases in the amount of equipment on farms and upgrades to existing or new equipment.

Having been involved with robotic milking since early 2002, I have experienced many success stories regarding robotic milking all across Canada. During that time, I have also seen farms that have struggled and questioned why they made the change to robotic milking. In some instances, we have even seen some robots come out, but the success stories far outweigh the farms that find it hard to adapt to robotics.

I grew up in a village of 14,000 people in the southwest of England. It was a community surrounded by dairy farms, sheep and pig farms, and rapeseed crops; it also had a slaughterhouse in the centre of the town. My family was involved in many aspects of the livestock and dairy industry, and I even delivered milk to the residents as my first job.