Cows Milked by an Astronaut

by Ashley Boydstun, PR Writer

This week a group of us at the agency had the opportunity to tour the Knigge Dairy Farm in Omro, Wis., for a special event dedicated to celebrating 10 years of robotic milking. It's actually the home farm of Krista Knigge, one our colleagues who works on our account service team.

The 120-cow free stall barn looks like most free-style barns, with two added features—robotic milking machines - Lely Astronaut A3's to be exact. The machines eliminated the need of a separate milking parlor.

Here’s how they work. When a cow is ready to be milked, she enters the milking stall. Once the cow is in the stall, the robot identifies the cow based on an individual RFID collars. The machine then uses a robotic arm to wipe and clean the cow’s teats. Lasers then find the cows teats and attach the units. When the cow is done, she exits the stall to the feed area and it’s ready for the next cow.

I spoke with Charlie Knigge, co-owner of Knigge Farms. He said his cows average just under three milkings a day, and his top producing cows milk around 140 pounds each day. The Knigge Dairy Farm has increased efficiency, mostly by eliminating added labor. The farm is primarily run by Charlie and his father.