It’s been a while since we have written a blog as we have been busy starting up our milking robots

It is an exciting time here at the farm. The finishing touches are being made to get the robots ready to milk our cows starting next Tuesday

Living in the mid-section of the country comes with the ease of traveling to World Dairy Expo. For nearly two decades, I have made my way to Madison, Wis., during the first week of October...

Milking robots offer a number of advantages. An automatic milking system (AMS) tends to boost production, reduce labor, and provide valuable data to help with day-to-day herd management

When it first debuted in the states nearly two decades ago, robotic milking came with a steep learning curve

During this robotic transition, Dad has written several blogs about what all is going on around the farm preparing for startup

The robot construction on our farm is well underway, and there are not enough hours in a day for all that needs completing before the first cow is milked

Overall, robotic milking systems tend to boost milk production

When we started thinking about robotic milking, I had to look outside our region of the U.S. for ideas

Things are moving along on the farm. The concrete has been poured. All five of our robots have been set in place. The walls are beginning to go up on our building

We finally placed two robots in our new main robot barn this week. A little over two years ago at the Western Dairy Management Conference, I was sitting at a table talking to two dairymen from Wisconsin

The potential benefits that robotic milking brings to the farm are becoming more clear — improved milk production, reduced labor costs, and enhanced reproduction

“What’s it worth to me?” That is a common question asked when making any high-value purchase

Uncertain times in the dairy world make our road to robotic milking scary, but here we go. We are finally finished with our plans to add robots on the sides of our conventional freestall flush barn

The veterinarian who started a cooperative, partners with Coca-Cola in a hit milk product, and operates perhaps the biggest agro tourism site in the U.S., sees a dairy future filled with milking robots

As our family travels down the path of robotic milking, we continue to learn lessons that I will pass on to you

With two years of planning and touring robotic farms under our belts, it is now time to break ground on the next phase for our family farm

Fred and Ethel are the newest and most consistent employees at Jones Farms in Stevinson, Calif. They never miss a milking shift and they follow every protocol with every cow

Most dairy producers invest in an automatic milking system to reduce the need for hired labor. As an added bonus, many herds milked with robots go up in production