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14 CapitalPress.com February 10, 2017 Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Dairy/Livestock Brothers add robotic Glanbia announces joint system to Illinois dairy venture for Michigan plant By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR The Quincy Herald-Whig CARTHAGE, Ill. (AP) — The cows are lining up to be milked at Udder Hill Dairy south of Carthage. But it is a robot, not a farmer, who will do the milk- ing as the cows crunch on feed pellets. Brothers Sid and Nate Huls installed the robotic sys- tem in December as a way to deal with the dairy’s time and labor demands — and with an eye toward the future. “It’s the future of farming, I guess, if the family wants to stay in business and still go to ballgames and whatever,” Sid said. “We’re not tied down to the farm near as much.” Twice-daily milkings and chores, starting at 3:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., used to take four hours each for the brothers, one full-time employee and three part-time employees. With the new system and its three robotic units capable of handling 60 cows, “somebody still has to come through and do chores, but it should go from four hours morning and night to roughly one hour,” Sid said. The brothers remain on call 24 hours a day in case of any issues with the computer- ized equipment, which shuts down for 30 minutes twice a day for cleaning, but for the rest of the time is milking cows or waiting for cows to come in to be milked. “The machines don’t let us expand cow numbers at all, but let us add a milking per day with the same amount of labor,” Nate said. Robotic milking takes an average of 6 minutes, 48 sec- onds per cow — and it’s done on demand. ‘It’s their choice’ “If they want to come in and milk five times a day, it’s their choice. We do try to make a minimum of two milk- ings per day, and right now we average just a little over three milkings a day,” Sid said. Part of the new system’s appeal for the cows is the feed pellets released during the milking process. “It doesn’t dump them all at once,” Sid said. “It gives her a little at a time to keep her busy.” The amount of pellets var- ies from cow to cow based on their production, which “makes it more efficient feed- ing,” Sid said. “Before we’d feed basically the whole herd as one individual cow. Now we’re getting what she needs. It’s specialized.” Even more impressive than the time and labor savings is the technology involved. Collars with computer chips allow the robot to rec- ognize each of the herd’s 160 milking cows and her unique teat placement. The robotic arm scrubs the cow’s teats twice before attaching the milking equip- ment, tracks milk flow, re- moves teat cups as needed to prevent overmilking and san- itizes the milking equipment after each milking. “If the cow moves forward or back, the arm moves with her. It’s like a slow dance all the time,” Nate said. “If you let it work, it’s usually smart enough to fix itself.” “Basically it’s a Fitbit on a cow. It tracks her movement every day,” Sid said, referring to the popular wearable ac- tivity tracker for people. “It’s like an information overload. It’s so much more information than we ever had before.” Newer features of robot- ic milking systems “catch” cows in heat or signaling ill- ness, then open a gate to move those animals into a separate management pen. “Over time it helps with herd health man- agement, to catch cows with sickness before they’re actu- ally showing physical signs,” Sid’s wife, Kristin, said. The brothers and their employees still have dai- ly chores, starting with the “fetch list” supplied each morning by the computer — a list of those cows that hav- en’t milked in eight hours or more. They hose down barn floors, change milk filters dai- ly, check the herd, bottle feed calves and feed the milking cows and young stock. Maintaining young stock is key to the dairy operation. “Our goal is to raise our own from the time they’re born,” Kristin said. “There’s less risk of introducing health issues into the herd. You know your genetics.” Robotic milking systems have been used in other coun- tries for nearly two decades, but have been in use in the United States only for about six years. Already using tech- nology like GPS to raise corn and soybeans, the brothers said adding it to the dairy was the next step — even if it was something their dad, Lloyd, never expected to see. ‘A long time ago’ “I started when I was six years old with a T-handled milk stool and a three-gallon stainless steel pail milking cows by hand. That was a long time ago,” Lloyd said. “I’m not computer literate, and I won’t say it’s the thing of the future, but it’s definitely a labor saver, herd improve- ment-type thing.” Planning for the system began in July with research and visits to farms already us- ing similar equipment. Work on a new barn to house the ro- bots began the day after Labor Day, and they were milking robotically by Dec. 7. Big adjustments “Our goal when we started was to have it pretty self-suf- ficient when we got back into the field” this spring, Nate said. The first three weeks meant plenty of adjustment for humans and herd. “Like the cows are learn- ing it, we’re learning it,” Nate said. “For the first week, we had to help each cow, coax them to get into the machine. Once they learned the system, they caught on fast,” Sid said. “The first time a new cow would come in, we had to get the (robotic) arm in the right po- sition to help it find the first milking.” Launching the system in the winter when cows are most comfortable made sense, but the brothers hit a bitter cold snap that stressed both them and the herd just after switching to the new Lely units built in Pella, Iowa. ‘Fitbit on a cow’ Cow comfort The computer measures the cow’s temperature and records daily milk produc- tion, feed intake and activity including how much the cow chews its cud. “Any dairy farmer will tell you their No. 1 goal is cow comfort,” Kristin said. “The more comfortable the cows are, the higher they’ll produce.” By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Glanbia has announced that it is in advanced discus- sions with the Dairy Farmers of America, Michigan Milk Producers Association and Foremost Farms to create a stand-alone joint venture to build and operate a new cheese and whey facility in Michigan. Upon completion, the plant is projected to process 8 million pounds of milk per day. Under the proposal, Glan- bia would own half of the venture and the other half would be owned by DFA, MMPA and Foremost Farms. As part of the proposed joint venture DFA, MMPA and Foremost Farms would supply all milk required by the plant, while Glanbia would have full responsibility for all commercial, technical and operational aspects of the business. If the project proceeds as planned, commissioning of the new facility is expected to take place in the second half of 2019. “This proposed joint ven- ture is a strategic move by all the partners to benefit from the growing, large-scale milk pool in the state of Michigan,” Brian Phelan, CEO of Glanbia Nutritionals, said in the press release “Consistent with Glanbia’s growth strategy, this proposed venture will build on our po- sition as the number one pro- ducer of American-style ched- dar cheese and simultaneously expand our global position as a supplier of advanced tech- nology whey protein to the nutritional sector,” he stated. Lori Potter/The Daily Hub via AP Alma sale barn manager Matthew Hegamen stands in the sale ring where Tuesday cattle sales that had been suspended in March were restarted under local ownership. Alma Commission Company soon will become Alma Livestock Auction LLC and operate similar to a co-op, according to the steering committee president. Investors save historic livestock sales barn the business model completed and then we can get working.” Kauk said employee safety is a priority. ALMA, Neb. (AP) — A The effort to purchase and sale barn has been a part of restart a livestock market that the Alma community for near- had seen dwindling sales in ly as long as there has been a recent years began with two community. public information meetings However, that chain of in January 2016. Kauk said history was nearly broken the 100 people who attended a year ago, until a group of each meeting understood that local investors stepped for- saving the business was good ward to purchase the Alma for the community, the em- Commission Company and ployees and agriculture. restart Tuesday cattle sales on Kauk cred- July 12 that longtime had ended in “We know we need to do some pen work, but its Alma Commis- March, the Kearney Hub the general appearance is pretty good. We have sion Company Bren- reported. to get the business model completed and then employee da Molzahn, “I’m not who died unex- sure when it we can get working.” pectedly three originated. Terry Kauk, sale barn steering committee president weeks ago, as Maybe 100 the leader of years,” said that effort. sale barn The next step was creating He added that the limited steering committee president Terry Kauk of Alma, adding liability company will be op- the 13-member steering com- that researching more about erated similar to a co-op, with mittee that has representatives Alma’s livestock sales history patronage dividends and votes from Franklin, Harlan, Phelps is on the to-do list. “It’s been weighted based on investment and Furnas counties in Ne- braska, and Phillips County in in the company. here a long time.” Steering committee trea- Kansas. He said a sale barn orig- Kauk and Alma sale barn inally was where the city’s surer Dená Dunse of Repub- Harlan County Lake boat lican City said the goal is manager Matthew Hegamen dock is now. The business was $350,000 of investment. She said there used to be livestock along the railroad tracks, be- and her husband, Nate, have markets in Franklin, Oxford, fore the tracks, barn and other a cow-calf business and do Holdrege and Phillipsburg in addition to Alma. Now the buildings were “moved up the some backgrounding. “We’re going to put some closest regular cattle sales are hill” and out of the way of the money into it, obviously,” in Kearney, Lexington, and lake project. There were several owners Kauk said, when asked about Norton and Plainville, Kansas. “I think that was one of along the way, most recently building improvements. Work Jim Barta of Norfolk. “That’s has started with a new com- Brenda’s things. That between who we purchased it from,” puter system and office re- Plainville and Kearney is a long stretch,” Kauk said. Kauk said, adding that the modeling. The Tuesday sale in Alma “Structurewise, it’s fair. closing was on May 4. “Right now, the steering We know we need to do some that start at noon primarily is for committee and its members pen work, but the general ap- cattle, but Hegamen said there own the barn,” Kauk said, pearance is pretty good,” he are sheep and goat sales on the but the business soon will be continued. “We have to get first Tuesday of every month. By LORI POTTER Kearney Hub rolled over into a new compa- ny, Alma Livestock Auction LLC. When that change is com- plete, the business will have a seven-member board for which there already have been nominations submitted. “It will be producer-owned by the entire group. We hav- en’t reached that benchmark,” Kauk said, but the group is getting close. “We’ll be get- ting close to 100 when it’s done.” Dairy Markets Lee Mielke Cheese traders create whiplash By LEE MIELKE For the Capital Press C ash cheese traders gave us a little whiplash to start February. Cheddar block jumped a dime last Thursday, climb- ing to $1.85 per pound, only to give back 11 cents Friday, and close at $1.74, still 5 cents higher on the week and 27 cents above a year ago. The barrels closed at $1.7075, up 26 cents on the week, 24 1/4-cents above a year ago, and re-established a more normal 3 1/4-cents be- low the blocks. Three cars of block were sold on the week and 23 of barrel. The blocks dropped 4 cents Monday, as traders awaited Tuesday morning’s Global Dairy Trade auction and, not liking what they saw, took the blocks down 7 cents Tuesday to $1.63. The barrels inched up a quarter-cent Monday but lost a penny Tuesday, slipping to $1.70, an inverted 7 cents above the blocks. After weeks of varying spot milk availability, Mid- western cheese producers re- ported readily available milk last week, says Dairy Market News, but less of it. Cheese demand is varied and the market undertone is uncertain as some contacts are taking a wait-and-see approach regard- ing international trade. Spot butter closed the first Friday of February at $2.1575 per pound, down 6 1/4-cents on the week, 1 1/4-cents be- low a year ago, and the lowest price since Dec. 15. The butter was unchanged Monday and inched up a quar- ter-cent Tuesday to $2.16. DMN says cream is still abundant in the Central region. January was fairly quiet but butter demand is steadily in- creasing as springtime holiday orders are starting. Western butter output is steady but inventories are ris- ing. Spot Grade A nonfat dry milk closed three-quarter cents lower last week, at 94 cents per pound, but 23 cents above a year ago. The powder was steady Monday but gained a penny Tuesday, hitting 95 cents per pound. Politics is concerning the market. As per its campaign promises, the Trump adminis- tration is taking on the Mex- ican border issue and trade agreements deemed not ad- vantageous to the U.S. Mexico is one of the U.S. biggest cus- tomers for powder. GDT inches back Tuesday’s Global Dairy Trade auction saw its weight- ed average for all products offered climb another 1.3 per- cent, after inching up 0.6 per- cent Jan. 17, which followed drops of 3.9 percent on Jan. 3 and 0.5 percent Dec. 20. Buttermilk powder again led the declines, down 7.5 percent. Cheddar cheese was down 3.7 percent, after a 1.3 percent gain last time. Milk Producers Council’s Vandenheuvel moves to California Dairies Inc. By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The Milk Producers Coun- cil has announced a changing of the guard, with long-time general manager Rob Van- denheuvel stepping down. He will be replaced by Kevin Abernathy, the coun- cil’s director of regulatory affairs. Vandenheuvel, who has served at the helm of the producer organization since 2007, has accepted a position with California Dairies Inc., the largest dairy processing cooperative in the state. He will be CDI’s vice president of industry and member rela- tions. On behalf of MPC, Van- denheuvel has been a vocal proponent of milk pricing re- form, calling out the state’s secretary of agriculture on many occasions and rail- ing against what he called a significant discount in Cali- fornia’s Class 4b milk price compared with the price for like milk in federal milk mar- keting orders. He has voiced strong sup- port for establishing a federal order in California, an effort led by CDI, Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes. Abernathy, who has been with MPC five years follow- ing seven years as executive director of the California Dairy Campaign — another dairy farmer trade associa- tion — has been promoted to general manager. He serves as a member of USDA’s Agricultural Air Quality Task Force and has served on numerous state and local environmental commit- tees and working groups. He also served six years as Western states territory man- ager for Brown Equipment Co. and holds a degree in an- imal science from California State University-Fresno. “While the board of di- rectors has greatly appreci- ated the work that Rob has done in this industry these past nine-plus years running MPC, we are also excited to be able to hand the reins to Kevin, an accomplished in- dustry leader and valuable member of MPC’s staff for the past five years,” MPC Board President Cornell Kasbergen said in Friday’s MPC newsletter. “Kevin has already prov- en his worth as a huge asset to MPC’s membership in his current role, and this pro- motion will ensure that our members continue to receive the highest quality of service and representation through- out and beyond this organi- zational transition,” Kasber- gen said.
