A spreading improvement

CLARKSVILLE, Iowa – Reading up on worldwide dairy practices and technology has been something Eduard Reuling has always enjoyed.
And, beyond his enjoyment, Reuling’s reading led him to invest in a robotic bedding system on his farm near Clarksville.

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“I always try to know what is happening in the world,” Reuling said. “Coming from the Netherlands, I like to know what is going on over there since I still have many friends there.”
Reuling and his wife, Resy, and their children, Jenny, Ryanne, Nick and Wouter, milk 500 cows in a swing-32 parlor three times a day.
In 2005, the Reulings moved from the Netherlands to start Snow Rock Dairies LLC. They began milking 350 cows and slowly grew the herd to where it is today.
The Reulings spent a number of years trying different bedding options.
“When we first started, we used rubber mats and sawdust, but the sawdust would get wasted by the cows, and we had to bed regularly,” he said. “This became expensive and time consuming so we tried manure solids.”
Reuling said manure solids were not efficient for his operation.
In 2017, waterbeds were installed in the freestall barns. At first, they spread hydrated lime on top of the stalls, but it was not keeping the cows dry and clean.
Not wanting to go back to hauling bedding, Reuling purchased the bedding robot in 2021 and began preparing the barn to house the technology.
“I will never ever go back to hauling bedding in four days a week,” Reuling said. “The dual chamber waterbeds have improved cow comfort, and the robot spreading sawdust twice each day keeps them dry and clean.”
Reuling set up the frame himself over the course of a few months. He fastened approximately 1,600 feet of I-beam to a T that is attached to his posts in the middle of the stalls. Reuling chose to put the hopper and conveyor for the robot at the center of the freestall barn so there was no need for additional construction.
Once construction of the track and frame were done, technicians from AMS Galaxy USA installed and programmed the robot. The robot has been running since early August 2021.
Other than a short-lived mishap with the robot’s wiring in August, caused by a lightning strike, Reuling said the technology has been running well.
“It’s so convenient,” he said. “All I have to do is fill the hopper a few times each week, and the rest is done by the robot. If we need to reprogram the timing, I just go into the computer to change it. It’s simple.”
The robot is programmed to spread bedding while the cows are being milked. Bedding is spread across 400 stalls in the older existing freestall barn. The barn that houses the fresh cows is bedded with sawdust using a manual spreader.
For 500 cows, Snow Rock Dairies goes through one semi-truck load of sawdust a month. The sawdust is loaded into the storage container three times per week and from there runs up a conveyor to equipment that shreds the bedding further. The bedding is then conveyed to a robot that delivers the bedding to the stalls.  
Once the timing is right, the robot runs the bedding along the stalls, and in about 30 minutes, it travels back to the hopper to charge and reloaded for the next group.
Milking at the farm is done by employees, while much of the herd health and management is done by Reuling with the help of his family. Crops are purchased out of the field from neighbors, and heifers are sent at 4 months to a heifer raiser.
“I do nearly everything, the breeding, feeding calves, feeding cows, hoof trimming and ultrasounding,” Reuling said.
Because milking is hired and feed is purchased, the Reulings focus on minimizing the extensive list of tasks that have to be done or at least ease the way they are being done.  
“If we want to automate something, it needs to take labor away from me,” he said.
Reuling’s whole life has been surrounded by dairy, and his ultimate goal with the farm has been to improve animal well-being and do so efficiently.
“This is always what I’ve done,” Reuling said. “I’ve never thought of doing something else.”