September 5, 2017 at 3:32 p.m.
Goblirsch family designs dairy for labor efficiency
Matt Goblirsch shows visitors the 250-cow freestall barn from the catwalk. Goblirsches designed their six-row freestall barn to be as labor efficient as possible. Slatted floors are scraped once a day, stalls have waterbed mattresses and side wall curtains are on a sensor system that automatically adjusts curtain height as weather changes. (Krista M. Sheehan)
The most well-known time saver for the Goblirshes is their robotic milking system. As the first dairy farm in Minnesota to install robots, they've had many curious visitors. They've also had a lot to learn.
"The biggest challenge is learning the cows and individualizing their [care]. The robots have tons of parameters; they do what you tell them to do, but you have to figure out what you want them to do," Nels said.
The Goblirsches have four robotic milkers networked to one computer system. Nels sets the matrix of parameters - such as how often each cow can be milked, how much feed each cow should be fed and what the computer should define as abnormal milk.
"Where you and I see two shades of white, the computer sees 200. So we tell it what shades it should consider normal and abnormal," Nels said.
Nels also takes care of checking the computer's attention lists.
"There are lots of detection devices with the robots - temperature, color, conductivity, weight of the cow, weight of the milk. Anything outside the normal range is flagged by the computer," Nels said. "You really learn to look at the screen."
The cows at Goblirsch Dairy average three-and-a-half milkings per day and one-and-a-half refusals per day, meaning the cows enter the robot to be milked more than they are allowed to be milked so the robot refuses them. High producers in the herd milk themselves six times a day, on average.
To fully capitalize on the labor savings of the robots, the Goblirsches designed their six-row freestall barn to be as labor efficient as possible. Slatted floors are scraped once a day. The 252 stalls have waterbed mattresses; no bedding is used in the stalls. Side wall curtains are on a sensor system that automatically adjusts curtain height as weather changes. Cows eat from J-bunks equipped with headlocks, so feed never needs to be pushed up.
The Goblirsches' feeding strategy is based on feeding for zero refusal. Feed is mixed and delivered twice a day in the summer and once a day during the winter. The last time the bunks were cleaned was last spring.
Matt does all of the feeding and monitors the bunks closely for intake levels.
"The key to zero refusal is to mix for what they need, not for what you think they need," he said.
Feeding high quality forages is also important. Cows will sort out moldy feed, Nels said.
The Goblirsches chop all their forages themselves and focus on putting up the highest quality feed possible. Haylage and corn silage are stored in two 26' x 100' stave silos. The haylage silo has a center hole unloader that unloads feed at a rate of 1,200 pounds per minute.
"I can finish mixing and feeding in about a half-hour," Matt said.
Along with growing the herd to 300 cows, the Goblirsches have plans to convert their old stanchion barn into a calf raising facility and build new heifer and dry cow barns.
They'll have time for these new investments courtesy of the time-and labor-saving investments they've already made.
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