10 CapitalPress.com
June 3, 2016
Farmer finds niche with organic milk at his robotic dairy
By DIANNA TROYER
For the Capital Press
Cows were not alone
in their need of training at
southeastern Idaho’s first ro-
botic dairy.
“It takes about three days
to train 90 percent of your
cows to get milked automat-
ically, about three weeks for
the reluctant cows to learn
to come in to be milked,
and about three months for
the farmer to realize he can
sleep in,” says Heber Lough-
miller, who opened Hillside
Dairy near Connor Creek in
June 2015.
The dairy’s automated
milking system allows his
100 cows with Holstein, Jer-
sey and Swedish Red blood-
lines to voluntarily walk into
a parlor to be milked. When
done, they meander back to
their grassy pasture to graze.
“Production won’t be as
high as at a traditional dairy,
about five gallons per cow a
day, but that’s OK,” Lough-
miller says. “The cows are
content, we’re providing a
quality product, and the land
isn’t overgrazed and has
Dianna Troyer/For the Capital Press
A robotic arm with an optical laser scanner helps locate the teats.
Dianna Troyer/For the Capital Press
healthy organic content.”
He sells the organic milk
to Sorrento Lactalis Inc. in
Nampa, where it is made
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As a cow comes into a
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Heber Loughmiller checks the controls in the milk parlor.
“It locates the teats with
an optical laser,” Lough-
miller says. “Each cow
takes about 5 to 7 minutes to
milk.”
In his office, Loughmill-
er logs onto his computer to
read vital information about
the day’s milking. The soft-
ware tracks nearly a dozen
factors, including average
milking times and fat con-
tent.
Loughmiller became in-
terested in running an organ-
ic dairy after buying a ranch
at Connor Creek eight years
ago.
“We ran beef cattle but
were looking for a different
grazing program that would
best suit the land, which is
hilly and a little rocky. We
have about 200 acres that
can be grazed.”
After doing research, he
decided to start an organic
dairy with cows grazing on
grass pastures instead of be-
ing confined to a lot.
“Years ago, dairy cows
grazed on pastures, so this
really is nothing new,”
Loughmiller says.
His parents, Bill and Col-
leen Loughmiller, invested
in the dairy.
“My dad has always been
an entrepreneur, so when I
told him about this idea, he
said it sounded crazy enough
to work and told me to go for
it.”
Running
a
robotic
dairy allows Loughmiller
the flexibility to still sell
crop insurance for Sloan-
Leavitt Insurance Agency,
a job he has had for several
years.
“I have some great cus-
tomers and want to continue
serving them, which I’ll be
able to do with this type of
dairy. It’s been exciting so
far. We hope one day to pass
along the business to one of
our kids.”