AgriNews features Lely robotic milking family, Suhrs

AgriNews featured Lely robotic milking family, the Suhrs, today. Below is an excerpt from the feature:

KASSON, Minn. - Tina Suhr opened her laptop at a meeting "to milk the cows."

She noted which cows hadn't been milked in 14 hours, picked up her cell phone and called the neighbor who was watching the herd of Holsteins she owns with her husband, Doug. She told him which cows needed to be found and chased into the robotic milker.

Doug and Tina Suhr installed two Lely Astronaut A3 robotic milkers on their Dodge County dairy farm in September 2008. For the first three weeks, they were in the barn 24/7 chasing cows into the robotic milker. Once trained, the cows pretty much go into the robotic milker on their own, Tina said.
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Robotic milkers have given them flexibility. Instead of spending 10 hours a day in the barn milking, they spend 40 minutes tending to barn chores. They are able to travel with daughter Gabrielle, 10, a hockey goalie, and see daughter Sierra, 14, a golfer, in action. They do the calve chores whenever they fit into their schedule.
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"The flexibility is just huge," Tina said. "I wish we would have put it (the robotic milker) in years and years ago."

Click here to read the full article.

Dairy professionals observe robotic milkers.

Dairy producers say robotic milkers work for them.