Lancaster Farming features Horning Dairy

Lancaster Farming recently featured Pennsylvania dairy farmers, Lewis and Amy Horning. They recently built a new free-stall barn with a Lely robotic milker for their 50-cow dairy.

Below is an excerpt from Lancaster Farming's website.

Earlier this month, the farm of Lewis and Amy Horning was a hub of activity as more than 200 farmers and their families gathered for an open house.

In such a difficult economic climate, it might seem strange that the Hornings would take on a significant investment to update their operations. However they said they realized if they were going to be profitable in the dairy industry, some changes would be needed on the family farm.

“When we started thinking about doing something, the milk price was much higher,” Amy said. But the price drop helped them to take a step back and make sure they had considered all of their options, she said.

The search for how to update the farm began in 2008. Both Hornings decided they wanted to continue milking cows, but needed a new milking facility. Before the update, they milked in a tie-stall barn that was used by Amy’s grandfather.

The Hornings built a new free-stall barn with a Lely robotic milker for their 50-cow dairy. The farm is now retrofitting the old tie-stall barn for heifers.

Lewis credits Amy’s father for suggesting the idea of robots for their farm. He told the couple that if he were a young farmer with a family, he would seriously consider the idea. With that, they began to weigh their options by visiting farms with different styles of robots. After the visits, they decided that a Lely milker best fit their needs.

Click here to read the full article.