Technology teachings

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. — Farmers interested in automated milking systems learned more about the technology Feb. 25 in a seminar hosted by Crawford County Extension. Four dairy producers who made the switch detailed their reasons why and answered questions from the audience.

The panel included Pete Winch of Pine Grove Dairy, of Fennimore; Chad Kieffer of Kiefland Holsteins, of Utica, Minnesota; Monica Enyart of Enyart Dairy, of Postville, Iowa; and Mark Lamborn of Lamborn Farms, of Luana, Iowa.

“Some people think that after the robots are installed, you’re done,” Lamborn said. “That’s not the truth. You still have to check reports. You’re always going to have fetch cows and other things to work on.”

Lamborn milks 155 cows with three robots and works with hired help.

Winch farms with his wife and three sons, breaking ground on their robotic barn in 2018. They milk 240 cows with four DeLaval robots.

Kieffer is a part-owner of his family farm, where they milk 330 cows with five Lely A3 Next robots.

Enyart installed robots in September 2025 and farms with her husband and children. They milk 155 cows with three robots and plan to expand to 180 cows.

A theme throughout the day’s events included how automated milking systems can provide more data and information than previous milking systems. For all four farmers, it took an adjustment in management to help their herds reach full potential.

“It’s tons of data, and you can get overloaded with it,” Kieffer said. “You have to pick a couple of reports that you like. You can customize them and focus on those.”

Although newer to the AMS, Enyart echoed a similar process.

“We’ve focused on two or three reports and decided that we can start looking at other information when things become more comfortable,” Enyart said.

Winch works with his farm’s support team to help decipher which information is relevant.

“We work with our nutritionist and our robot consultant,” Winch said. “They follow different things than I do. We’ll meet every 4-5 weeks, and they help me find the trends that I miss. We’ll look through the data and find where we can produce more milk.”

The panel fielded questions from the audience about their setups, what they liked and what they would change if they could go back. One topic was the use or installation of headlocks on each farm.

“We put headlocks in the whole barn,” Kieffer said. “We could have saved money by not doing all headlocks, but when we’re doing things like udder singeing, the headlocks work well.”

Winch also cited the use of headlocks for treatment or when cows need special attention.

“We use our headlocks because we want to keep treatments out of the robot,” Winch said. “It ensures that the cow is always having a pleasant experience with the robot.”

Buffer tanks were also a talking point for potential use of an AMS. All four panelists were asked about their use of buffer tanks, which are temporary storage tanks for milk while the primary bulk tank does a wash cycle.

“A buffer tank is a must,” Kieffer said. “It keeps the robots milking. There can be issues with bacteria growth at times due to the time gap between pipeline washes. You can get around that. You just have to manage it.”

Lamborn agreed.

“We haven’t had any issues with cleaning our buffer tank,” Lamborn said. “It’s always cleaned well, and it makes it work for the milkman. If he gets there late, he hits a button and away it goes.”

Winch said the buffer tank allows for more flexibility from his milk hauler, keeping the routines of his herd intact.

“A lot of times you don’t know when the milk hauler is coming,” Winch said. “If you’re trying to push cows through when he’s there, it sets you back. Since we put the buffer tank in, the barn flows so much better. It’s not because of the more milking time, it’s because the cows get used to coming in at a normal time.”

With all the moving parts in an AMS, freezing can be a catastrophic issue for these machines. The panel was asked to detail how they mitigate that risk on their own farms.

“We have an insulated roof, insulated doors and air curtains, plus in-floor heat, and we’ve never had an issue,” Kieffer said. “It never gets below 32 in our barn. We do get a few icy chains when it’s really bad. Not having to change anything is what’s best for the cows.”

Winch used a different technique.

“We installed in-floor heat, but that didn’t do anything,” Winch said. “The first winter (of our robot) was the polar vortex in 2019. By the next winter, we did radiant heat tubes, and we should have done that from the start. If we position the robot arm so it’s in the heat from the tube, it keeps it from freezing.”

Lamborn offered another solution.

“We put a box fan in that blew across to keep the cold air out,” Lamborn said. “We put a heater in there now. I had put a big torpedo heater in there, but camera lenses didn’t like that, and we had some issues. The box fan has worked well.”At the end of the session, Enyart advised others to research how an AMS could benefit their farm.

“Look at robot farms,” Enyart said. “Look at designs and layouts, look at suggested layouts but don’t be afraid to tell them you don’t like it. We had to redraw our barn six times. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and make sure you get what you want. You’re the one paying for it.”