Dilemma crafts dairy’s prospect Decade of milking with robots has the Posts valuable lessons

By Jerry Nelson jerry.n@dairystar.com

CHANDLER, Minn. –Bill and Merri Post faced a life-changing dilemma.

In 2011, they found themselves at a crossroads on their farm, Middleroad Acres Land & Cattle.

“We were milking 120 head in our stanchion barn,” Bill said. “The barn was at its limit. We were told that the only way we could increase milk production was to add a third milking.”

But, there was a problem with that idea.

“Bill’s body was wearing out from all those years of milking,” Merri said. “His knees were shot, and his shoulder was giving him problems.”

Middleroad Acres Land & Cattle, near Chandler, has been in the Post family since 1931. The Posts’ herd, which has a long history of Red and White Holstein genetics, has been closed since the early 1970s.

“I told Bill that if we were going to quit milking he should imagine the day that the cows leave,” Merri said. “He said that he couldn’t do it. That’s when we decided to take the next step.”

The next step for the Post family was building a new dairy facility that included a pair of robotic milking systems.

“We visited several different robotic operations before we settled on the design of our new barn,” Merri said. “We eventually landed on a design that didn’t involve a lot of extra bells and whistles.”

The Posts’ new facility included tunnel ventilation, sand-bedded free stalls and translucent panels on the sidewalls. They milked their rst cows in the new barn Dec. 11, 2012.

Bill and Merri’s children, Sarah and Jake, were teenagers at the time.

“We made an alley of farm machinery and walked the cows from the old barn to the new one,” Sarah said. “Jake and I had show cows that we led with halters.

That helped keep the other cows calm.”

Many things have changed over the decade.

Sarah is now married to Jacob Bierstedt and has two children, Aiden and Coby. Jake married Megan Popkes in 2019. The couple has two children, Addie and Willa.

The Posts live in three separate houses located on their farmstead.

“Everyone helps out on the farm whenever they can, including Jacob and Megan,” Bill said. “We’ve also gotten a tremendous amount of help for many years from our herdsman, Daryl Rylaarsdam.”

Merri said the transition to the new facility was a good one.

“We had a steep learning curve during the rst few weeks in the new barn,” Merri said. “But after a few months, we and the cows were much more comfortable with the situation.”

Sarah said the family has only had to sell one cow because she failed to adapt to the robots. And Jake said they have learned to bed the free stalls every seven to 10 days.

“We struggled with our (somatic cell count) for the rst ve years,” Merri said. “We tried different liners and experimented with our takeoff settings. One change we made was to gradually lower our box time limit to 11 minutes.”

These efforts have paid off. The Posts’ herd has a SCC that hovers between 110,000 and 180,000. Their herd is averaging 94 pounds of milk per cow per day with 4.1% butterfat.

The barn has an insulated ceiling which also aids in production.

“We chose that to keep the barn cooler in the summer,” Bill said. “But it’s also warmer in the wintertime. This keeps the cows comfortable, which makes them more inclined to visit the robots.”

The Posts have gone through numerous iterations of the pelleted feed that the cows consume when they visit the robots.

Sarah said they have learned that healthy cows will go through the robots, and those who are not as healthy and do not have udder pressure will not go through as often. They encourage the cows as best they can.

“We did a lot of tweaking to our pellets,” Sarah said. “We tried adding liquids and tried multiple avors.”

Jake said the Posts switched from storing their silage in bags to making a silage pile.

“The feed quality from the pile is much more consistent,” Jake said. “Cows thrive on consistency. Our milk production lows aren’t as low as they used to be.”

Bill said they began using genomic testing a year ago.

“We genomic test all of our heifers,” Bill said. “This enables to breed the bottom third of our herd to beef bulls. We have so many replacements on hand that we can cull cows that are too good to go to slaughter, so we sell them to other dairy farmers.”

Sarah said they breed for type, good feet and feed for production. The breeding program has also focused on increasing protein and fat production.

Merri said they have helped other dairy farmers during the startup of their robotic milking facilities.

“We could see the terror on their faces during the rst few hours,” Merri said. “But it was comforting for them to see us.”

Bill has endured more than his share of health issues over the past decade. He has had both of his knees replaced and has undergone surgery on a shoulder and a foot. But that paled in comparison to the news he received in 2017.

“Bill seemed tired all the time, so I made him go to the doctor for a checkup,” Merri said. “That’s how we learned that he has chronic leukemia. It’s a very manageable, very livable form of the disease. It only means taking one pill a day. If we didn’t have the robotic milking facility, we would have had no choice but to sell the cows.”

After 10 years in their new barn, there are very few things the Posts would change. They encourage others to build a robot barn for cow comfort not human comfort. Bill said while robots are a great addition, the technology goes not allow farmers to walk away from the operation.

“I spend as much time with the cows as I did before,” he said. “It’s just that now I get to choose when I spend that time.”

How do you prepare your animals and farm for blasts of cold weather? We give them plenty of bedding and plenty of feed. We try to have a foot of wheat straw in the calf hutches and for the monoslope heifer barn.

What challenges have you had on the farm during cold weather and how did you overcome them?

A challenge we had was driving the football eld-long hill down by the hay shed with the mixer, and we overcame that by putting sand down so we have traction. We have a sand pit off to the side of the driveway, and we take the loader tractor and sprinkle it on. We have to do that every time we get a snowfall.

What do you do to maintain equipment in cold weather? We run No. 1 fuel and keep our everyday equipment inside. We try not to use the silo unloaders in the winter. We feed out of the bags in the winter. We haven’t had much trouble with the heated waterers this winter.

What apparel would you not leave the house without during cold snaps? A heavy Carhartt jacket, bibs and Thinsulate hat, and I wear mittens.

Describe the toughest winter you remember. In 1998, an ice storm caused us to be out of electricity for three days. We had to run the tractor and generator for all three days.

If you could get away during the winter and go anywhere, where would you go? Anywhere warm to get away, enjoy the warm weather and not have to worry about everything. Tammy would like to go to Hawaii. Landon would go to the NCAA wrestling tournament wherever that was being held.

Tell us about your farm. We milk our cows in a double-8 herringbone parlor. Our freestall barn holds about 140 cows. We farm 500 acres of hay and corn. We ship our milk to the Nelson Creamery Association, which is part of First District Association. We also have 50 Red Angus and Angus cow-calf pairs. Landon will be getting married this August.

Herman Massmann Melrose, Minnesota Stearns County 67 cows

How do you prepare your animals and farm for blasts of cold weather? We make sure to give plenty of straw to our heifers and steers that are in group housing. All the animals are kept inside a shed in the winter. Our youngest calves are kept in group housing attached to the barn and get wheat straw. Older heifers and steers get corn straw.

What challenges have you had on the farm during cold weather and how did you overcome them? We’ve had frozen heated waterers that needed repair or replacement. All of our youngstock and steers are in group housing in sheds and each has a heated waterer. We’ve had at least four out of the six waterers that we have freeze up over the years. We’ve also had silo unloaders break down and need repairs. I’ve also had to chip away at frozen feed inside silos.

What do you do to maintain equipment in cold weather? We keep our skid loaders, tractors and manure spreader in a heated shop.

What apparel would you not leave the house without during cold snaps? I wear a ski mask, insulated pants, heavy jacket and layered socks with boots when it gets really cold out.

Describe the toughest winter you remember. During the winter of 2013-14, it stayed cold for the longest period. We had lots of ice chipping and went through a lot of bedding that winter.

If you could get away during the winter and go anywhere, where would you go? I like being home, so in the house. I don’t have a desire to travel anywhere else because I have everything I want or need here.

Tell us about your farm. I milk my cows in a tiestall barn and raise my youngstock including nishing out about 50 steers. I farm 260 acres of corn, alfalfa and oats. I have three kids and four stepkids. Some of the older kids help when they are home on break from college. My mom and wife also help when I need an extra hand. I am a thirdgeneration dairy farm, and I ship my milk to Land O’Lakes.

How do you prepare your animals and farm for blasts of cold weather? All the animals that are outside have a shelter, and I make sure that everyone’s bedding is clean and dry. I give them all extra feed for extra energy during cold snaps.

What challenges have you had on the farm during cold weather and how did you overcome them? I haven’t had any major setbacks or challenges with cold snaps because I do a lot of preventative maintenance to my animals and equipment.

What do you do to maintain equipment in cold weather? The only piece of equipment I need every day is a skid loader, which I keep in a heated shed. I make sure my skid loader has regular oil changes and is greased. I have a stationary mixer so I don’t need to start a tractor every day. But, I do keep a tractor and generator in the heated shed just in case of a power outage.

What apparel would you not leave the house without during cold snaps? My insulated bids when it’s really cold out.

Describe the toughest winter you remember. In the 1990s, there were a lot of cold winters. Before we had the manure pit, it was always tough hauling manure every day in the winter. You had to make sure the apron was loose and had to make sure all the manure got off the spreader, that you didn’t get stuck and that your tractor didn’t gel up. Years ago, the winters were much tougher than they are now.

If you could get away during the winter and go anywhere, where would you go? I have not done much traveling in the past, but I would denitely go somewhere warm. I would go to Mexico or Hawaii or Arizona to get a break from the cold.

Tell us about your farm. I operate 215 acres of corn and alfalfa, and milk 50 cows in a tiestall barn. I ship my milk to First District Association. My son has a crop farm and helps me with eldwork in the summer. I have been dairy farming my whole life.

Neil Metzger Lester, Iowa

Lyon County 245 cows