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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 8, 2022
DAIRY BY DROIDS
Tillamook farmer adopts robotic milking, feeding systems
crane, drops from overhead
to scoop large clumps of
feed that it then drops into
the feeder for mixing. Each
1,600-pound load includes
grass silage, corn silage,
corn grain and a cano-
la-based vitamin and min-
eral protein mix, carefully
rationed to meet the cows’
nutritional needs.
Once the load is ready,
the feeder emits a series
of precautionary beeps
before making its pre-pro-
grammed
rounds.
As
opposed to one large daily
feeding, Mizee said the
Vector feeds 18 smaller
meals, ensuring the forage
remains fresh.
“This is a more consis-
tent feed every time the
cow comes to the bunk,”
Mizee said.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
TILLAMOOK,
Ore.
— Kurt Mizee stood and
watched as the Lely Vector
swept across the concrete
barn floor at Tilla-Bay
Farms, dispensing feed for
180 dairy cows.
The self-driving robot
— nicknamed “The Orca”
after the boat from the
movie “Jaws” — resem-
bles a giant Roomba vac-
uum, using obstacle-detec-
tion sensors to maneuver
along rows of stalls where
hungry Holsteins huddled
in anticipation.
Automation is rapidly
transforming how dairy
farmers run their oper-
ations, said Mizee, the
fourth-generation owner
of Tilla-Bay Farms in Til-
lamook, on Oregon’s North
Coast. As labor becomes
more scarce, robots are
picking up the slack.
“Certainly, it’s made
us more efficient,” Mizee
said. “We’ve stayed the
same herd size for over 10
years, but increased our
(milk) production 25-30%
in that time.”
In addition to the auto-
matic feeder, Tilla-Bay
Farms has three robotic
milkers, where cows vol-
untarily go to be milked
three times per day. The
wireless system synchro-
nizes to collars fitted on
each cow, tracking every-
thing from quality and
quantity of milk to how
much she has eaten during
the day.
Milk from Tilla-Bay
Farms is sold to the Til-
lamook County Creamery
Association, a coopera-
tive that makes Tillamook
cheese, yogurt, ice cream
and other dairy products.
Mizee, who for sev-
eral years also worked
as a regional dealer for
Lely North America, said
his family’s 104-year-
old dairy was among the
Multiple benefits
George Plaven/Capital Press
The Lely Vector sweeps along the dairy barn at Tilla-Bay Farms, dispensing a blended mix of feed for 180 dairy
cows.
George Plaven/Capital Press
George Plaven/Capital Press
Kurt Mizee, of Tilla-Bay Farms in Tillamook, Ore., in the
“feed kitchen” next to densely packed 4,000-pound
blocks of silage.
A bridge crane scoops a load of silage from the feed
kitchen to be mixed and delivered via robot to dairy
cows at Tilla-Bay Farms in Tillamook, Ore.
first in the West to invest
in the robots. He pre-
dicts there will be greater
acceptance in the indus-
try to compensate for
an ongoing shortage of
workers.
“In our own county,
every farm is at least
one person short, maybe
two,” Mizee said. “In
terms of trying to combat
costs, this is getting a lot
of attention.”
Family tragedy
For Mizee, the decision
to embrace automation was
spurred by tragedy.
Mizee was attending the
World Ag Expo in Tulare,
Calif., in 2011 when he got
the call. His wife, Wendy,
and 8-year-old daughter
Shelby had been killed in a
head-on crash on Highway
6 outside Tillamook while
driving home from a doc-
tor’s visit in Portland.
All of a sudden, Mizee
found himself a newly sin-
gle parent to his son, Ryan,
while simultaneously bal-
ancing around-the-clock
demands at the dairy.
“I used to get up at
3:30 a.m. and be here
by 3:45,” Mizee said.
He wouldn’t get home
until 7:30 in the evening.
“That’s not a sustainable
way to parent.”
Mizee purchased the
robotic milkers, which
allowed him to cut back
one employee and afforded
much more time he could
dedicate to being a dad.
The cows effectively set
their own milking sched-
ule, coming and going as
they please without direct
supervision.
The system alerts Mizee
via text message if there
are any problems or a spe-
cific cow has gone too long
without being milked.
“We only ever touch the
cows that have an issue,”
he said. “Everyone else is
free to do whatever cows
do all day.”
Between labor savings
and increased milk pro-
duction, Mizee said the
system paid for itself in
seven years. From there, he
began checking out further
technological upgrades.
Enter the Lely Vector, a
mixing and feeding droid
that blurs the line between
traditional agriculture and
science fiction.
The process begins in the
“feed kitchen,” an extension
of the dairy barn loaded
with hay in densely packed
4,000-pound blocks.
A robotic claw, or bridge
Freshness means less
feed goes to waste. Whereas
in the past the cows might
refuse upwards of 1,000
pounds of feed per day,
now Mizee said only about
a shovel-full goes uncon-
sumed. Those savings add
up quickly, especially given
higher hay prices due to
drought.
Smaller meals also help
the cows digest, stabilizing
rumen pH — acidity — and
producing a higher butter
fat content in the milk.
The system is also better
for the environment, Mizee
said. He estimated the farm
burns 20 fewer gallons of
diesel per week from driv-
ing tractors.
Finally, the time saved
by automation has led to a
better quality of life. Mizee
remarried seven years ago,
which he credited in part to
on-farm automation giving
him the flexibility to start
dating again.
The technology avail-
able continues to develop,
Mizee said. While some
farmers may still be skepti-
cal, Mizee said the proof is
in the increased efficiency
and milk quality.
“You have to have
an open enough mind to
let the technology do its
job,” he said. “Because
it’s a completely different
way of operating a dairy
farm.”
The biggest remain-
ing hurdle, Mizee said, will
be training qualified ser-
vice professionals to main-
tain the systems. He served
on an advisory committee to
establish a new agricultural
technology degree at Tilla-
mook Bay Community Col-
lege, which was introduced
in 2020.
“With any technology, I
always warn people there’s
five days out of the year
when you wonder, ‘Why did
I do this?’ The other 360, it
feels like a pretty great deci-
sion,” he said.
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