Growing for the next generation

VALDERS, Wis. – After milking 100 cows three times a day for 30 years in a stanchion barn, the Gries family was ready for a change. Well into their 70s, Harlan and Judy Gries, who farm with their son, Greg, and his daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Zak Kenneke, were hoping to slow down a bit. Not only that, their old barn had little life left.
“We needed to do something,” Harlan said. “The barn was worn out, and the stalls needed to be replaced. I told Greg either we have to get out of cows and do cash cropping or build a new facility. It was his choice.”
Getting rid of the cows was not an option for Greg. And, knowing the next generation was interested in farming also made the decision to build and grow an easy one. The family built a robotic facility and milked cows in the new barn for the first time Feb. 21, 2021. The Gries family is hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 22 to showcase the facility.
Three generations of Grieses run Libertyland Farms near Valders. The family milks 320 cows with five Lely A5 robots and farms 1,025 acres. The four-generation farm was purchased by Harlan’s parents, Elmer and Marie, in 1940 and given the name Libertyland Farms in 1948. In 1970, Harlan and Judy took over. They milked 60 cows until Greg joined his parents full time in 1985 after graduating from high school. The trio formed a partnership, and an addition to their stanchion barn allowed them to increase cow numbers to 90.
In their 88-stall stanchion barn, the Gries family milked at 6 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Judy milked mornings and afternoons with either Greg or Harlan, and Harlan always did the night shift.
“I liked milking,” Harlan said.
The Gries family purchased cows to fill their new barn, tripling the size of their herd. Cows are grouped according to age with one pen consisting of two robots for first-lactation heifers, another pen containing two robots for cows in their second through fourth lactations, while one pen for aged cows contains one robot. Cows average 2.7 milkings per day.  
“With the A5 robot, we only had to get rid of one cow due to teat placement,” Harlan said. “The robot is really good at finding the teats and attaching, even on older cows that don’t have the best placement.”
In the robot, cows are fed a grain mix with molasses instead of a pellet.
“It’s cheaper than feeding a pellet,” Greg said. “We have our own grain – soybeans and corn – to use, so it just makes sense. We eliminated the cost of pellets or the cost to haul feed and have it pelleted.”
The tunnel ventilated barn is designed for optimal cow comfort. Cows moved from mattresses and straw with metal partitions in the stanchion barn to sand-bedded, movable flex stalls in the new barn.
“Cow longevity has improved,” Rachel said. “We never have injuries because of stalls. Cows can get up and down and move around a lot easier without banging themselves. The stall moves with them. The new barn made our old cows more youthful. They thrive here.”
The 386-stall barn also houses the farm’s dry cows and features three maternity pens equipped with cameras. The new facility includes a vet room, an office with a view of one of the robots, a conference room, bathroom with washer and dryer, milkhouse that houses the farms two 6,000-gallon bulk tanks, and a room for prepping pasteurized milk for feeding to calves, which are housed in outdoor hutches. A complete walkaround runs the perimeter of the barn in front of the cows.
“I believe it’s the first one Fox Cities Builders ever did,” Judy said. “It’s really nice because you can check the cows without having to change your shoes. It’s worked great for Greg coming home from his kids’ sporting events, etc. There are no crosswalks to go through.”
Now 80 and 76, respectively, Harlan and Judy are active on the farm, but Greg and Rachel handle much of the day-to-day work. Assisting them in the barn is a full-time person who helps feed calves, give vaccinations, dry up cows and do other chores, while Zak is the farm’s feeder and maintenance man. In addition to her role on the farm, Rachel also works full time for Quality Liquid Feeds. Heading up the calf area, she feeds calves at night and fills in on weekends in the barn.
“Robots give me the flexibility to get morning chores done early so I can be back for night chores,” Rachel said.
The family is enjoying the conveniences and features of their barn, such as the automatic alley scrapers and feed pusher. In addition, the activity collars that work in tandem with the robotic milking system have boosted cow health and improved the farm’s reproduction program.
“The collars flag mastitis early on; therefore, very rarely do we have a hard, red, inflamed quarter,” Rachel said. “We catch mastitis earlier and have a quicker turnaround. Same with ketosis and DA cases.”
Greg agreed.
“The collars are a huge asset,” he said.
The farm now breeds most of its cows off natural heats versus an ovsynch program.
“Now, we’re utilizing a better breeding window and breeding cows at a more precise time,” Rachel said. “A lot more are being bred off natural heats. It reduces the labor and money of giving shots.”
Allowing cows to operate on their own schedules, the robotic milking facility that incorporates automated monitoring features has increased efficiency in the barn at every level.
“We let cows be unless we get a list of cows needing attention,” Rachel said. “We don’t walk fresh cow pens or do any checks unless a cow pops up on our list. This saves a lot of time. We’re also not locking cows up or getting them out of their routine.”
Anticipating growth, the facility was built to accommodate eight robots. The family built a barn to lead them far into the future and deeper into the Gries family farming tradition to provide opportunities for future generations. Greg’s daughter, Jenna, is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in dairy science and has also expressed interest in returning to the farm one day. Greg’s oldest daughter, Anna – a registered nurse – is having her first child in October, and Harlan and Judy are looking forward to becoming great-grandparents.
“Judy and I have enjoyed watching the farm evolve over the years,” Harlan said. “It’s changed a lot since my parents bought the place, and I’m really happy my family has wanted to keep it going. It’s great to have three generations working together.”