A SPECIAL PRODUCERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® CALIFORNIA Dairy & Livestock
Dairies turn to robotic milking, save on labor costs By Vicky Boyd Stanislaus County dairy farmer Vance Ahlem says he has reduced labor costs and increased milk production after outfitting his dairy with a series of robotic milking systems for his Jersey cows.
Joining her in the study were Fernanda Ferreira, former professor of veterinary medi- cine at UC Davis, and Marcia Endres, a researcher at the University of Minnesota. Even if producers don’t go all in, Bruno said they are adopting other technologies, such as activity monitors and cameras. In 2008, Ahlem and his family purchased what had originally been built as a robotic dairy in 2002. At the time, the technology wasn’t advanced enough, and the previous owner eventually converted the operation to a conventional milking parlor. As part of his research, Ahlem visited Fair Oaks Dairy in Indiana to view a DeLaval robotic system. He also traveled to Denmark to see Lely robotic systems at dairies that milked Jerseys, the same breed that Countyline has. Ahlem eventually went with Lely and TDR Inc., a Turlock-based dairy contractor, engi- neer and Lely service provider. He said one of the keys to the successful robotic conversion was communication and gaining early employee support, even though it meant ultimately a 50% labor force reduction. “I brought my manager in very early when we were looking at vendors, so he could buy in, understand it and get educated ahead of time, because he was nervous about computers and learning things,” Ahlem said. Communication also factored into educating bankers about the new technology.
When the California Legislature increased the state minimum wage and enacted a 40- hour agricultural overtime threshold, Stanislaus County dairy producer Vance Ahlem of Denair knew he had to change to survive. “I sat back and tried to envision what we were going to do going forward, what we would do to manage that,” said Ahlem, a partner in Countyline LLC. After plenty of research and visits to operations already using automated milking sys- tems, he pulled the trigger in 2021 to transition to robotic milking. Since then, Ahlem has seen significant labor savings and increased milk production from fewer cows, calmer animals and improved herd health. But Ahlem isn’t the only dairy producer in the state to tap robotics. Daniella Bruno, a University of California Cooperative Extension dairy advisor for Kings, Fresno and Madera counties, led a survey in 2020 about adoption of automated milking. It was part of a larger study on the feasibility of milking robots on large dairies. Back then, she found statewide about 200 box robots, which are individual automatic milking machines. “I think labor is still a problem, so we may see more dairies with robots in the future,” Bruno said. “However, when and if it happens will depend on many factors, and it is hard to predict with precision.”
See ROBOTIC, Page 7
6 Ag Alert July 31, 2024
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