Times are Changin'

Milk producer Mike Garner of Hagler Creek farms says that from input costs and feed mixtures to output yields and health issues, everything in his hi-tech dairy where robots milk his cows are collected and analyzed from a computer for herd management, This is an operation where the lack of a stable workforce to milk the cows is now a thing of the past.

 

“Labor is obviously a big one. It's getting it's getting harder to find people that want to do the hard work continuously.”

 

Garner says the barn is still in the learning curve of all that robotic milking can offer their producer. He's confident that in time his cows will beat the 90 pounds of milk per day average at his other conventional milk barn.

 

We're not beating that yet, but we're confident that we will and we'll have longer longevity out of the cow.

 

Co-owner of Heglar Creek Scott Webb said “He was at a point where he was feeling discouraged about where dairy was heading and that “This makes him feel excited again.”