Barns & Equipment

While summer can provide more optimal weather for humans than winter months, it can be negative for dairy cattle with conditions that cause heat stress. 

An automatic milking system (AMS) or robot is an advanced and well-working technology for milking cows and takes the labor away from the actual milking process. However, it is vital to remember that one cannot just trust the milking machine to ensure cow welfare and production or even efficient labor usage.

The 2019 hay season is shaping up to be a rather challenging one with the seemingly endless rain and lower temperatures across most of the nation.

Agriculture is one of the most important professions you could choose, but it can be unfriendly at times. Commodity prices are often inconsistent, weather patterns are unstable, markets can be volatile, and labor is growing scarce. With so many factors outside of your control, it’s understandable to want predictability and productivity.

If you have been actively farming for as long as I have, you have seen more than a few changes in the machinery we use. Today’s farm machinery is more powerful, faster, “smarter” and more comfortable than ever before. To be fair, they are also more complicated and expensive.

When it comes to the adoption of automated milking systems, Dr. Nigel Cook said, “The U.S. is way behind.

“This is a European system being transplanted in North America and that’s great because we can learn from some of the teething problems and issues that Europe has had to deal with, but we also create some other problems and challenges that they haven’t,” he continued.