Seven years in the making

MUSKEGO, Wis. — After years of planning their robotic milking facility, the King family moved cows into the new barn in January 2024. A year and a half later, they are finetuning their system to maximize production.

Since moving from their stanchion barn to the robotic barn, production has gone up 20 pounds of milk per cow.

“We’re producing more milk with fewer cows,” Mark King said. “We’re the second year into it, so we’re starting to see more and more.”

Mark’s son, Steven, agreed.

“Coming into this, we didn’t have the highest production in the stanchion barn,” he said. “We have a lot of room to go yet.”

The Kings milk 113 cows at King’s Dairy Farm LLC near Muskego with two DeLaval VMS V300 robots.

“We toured a bunch of places and like the blue ones better than the red,” Mark said. “Both brands do good jobs, but that’s our preference. We like the way the blue ones work.”

Steven said they have DeLaval’s newest model.

“It’s much quicker, better attaching, and has a better camera than previous models,” he said. “DeLaval updated a lot of things.”

The Kings utilize a guided traffic flow system, with cows moving counterclockwise around the barn. If a cow is granted permission to milk, she enters the robot. If she is not granted permission, she is directed to the feed alley.

“Very seldom do we have to fetch any cows,” Mark said. “That’s why we went with guided flow versus free flow.”

The robots are positioned side by side, and two crossover alleys direct traffic flow.

The 120-stall, tunnel-ventilated, 3-row barn is 260- by 70- feet. A special needs pen containing six stalls sits at the front of the barn near the robots. Mark said the building is set up so Steven could expand in the future.

“On the east side, he could double up and do two more robots and go to 280 cows,” Mark said.

Steven is the fourth generation on the farm started by his grandparents. The King family milked Guernseys before switching to Holsteins around 1982.

“I think if anybody younger is going to stay in this business milking between 150-400 cows, you have to go this way because of labor,” Mark said. “Robots do free up some time for us when doing all the fieldwork too.”

The Kings farm about 550 acres of corn and soybeans.

“This summer and last summer, there is no way the two of us could have milked cows in the old barn and done everything else too,” Steven said.

Mark’s wife, Gina, works from home for ProHealth Care, and when Mark and Steven are in the fields, she pops in to check on the robots.

“Gina is into it 100% and knows how to reset some of the things on the robots,” Mark said. “Steven is the backbone of all this high-tech stuff. He does a lot of troubleshooting, and the place that does our maintenance is teaching him everything they can so we can maintain the robots ourselves.”

Previously, the Kings milked up to 135 cows in a 24-stall stanchion barn and switched five times every milking.

“You had to have at least three people in the barn at all times,” Mark said. “The hardest thing the last five years was getting help, and labor is still our biggest problem.”

A cow can be milked in the robot up to six times daily. Currently, the cows average 2.5 milkings per day. Mark said each robot has a 70-cow capacity, and their goal is to get up to 140 cows milking.

“Trying to get by with making the payments — that’s our biggest fear and goal,” Mark said. “The more cows we can get in here will help.”

The Kings spent seven years planning the new facility.

“My dad always said, ‘It’s not a good time,’” Mark said. “You have to figure out how to pay for it, and it’s tough.”

Mark’s dad died two years ago, 80 days after Mark’s mom died.

“He saw most of this get built,” Mark said. “He was 85, and he would still be milking today if he were alive.”

The new facility has given the Kings more space and enabled them to move their animals home. Youngstock, springing heifers and dry cows were previously split between three farms. The Kings converted their stanchion barn to calf housing, but six stalls remain for milking fresh cows and treated cows.

“Nothing comes to the new building with any medication in it,” Mark said. “You can do it with these robots, but it’s taking time for another cow that could be in the robot because the system does a wash in between.”

Instead of installing a traditional footbath in the new barn, the Kings put in a Schippers MS AutoHoofClean system. Positioned at the exit gate of the robot area, the mattress is filled with water and chemicals that are released when a cow steps on it, covering each hoof. Mark said the automatic system is cleaner and more contained.

When moving cows onto concrete, the Kings noticed a deterioration in hoof health. Prior to installing the foot mattress, the hoof trimmer was putting blocks on cows, but Mark said those problems have calmed down.

Steven agreed.

“We went from having a lot of problems with hairy warts to almost nothing,” Steven said. “We also noticed quite a bit of a jump in turns through the robots, which has helped us with production.”

The free stalls feature mattresses topped with DryCare powder for moisture control. In winter, the Kings add shavings as well.

“I prefer sand, but the robots don’t like it,” Mark said. “Neither does the equipment.”

Steven said the robot technician who was at the farm recently said their robots are like brand new since they are not using sand.

To increase production, Mark said they are holding more roundtable discussions with their nutritionist, veterinarian and other stakeholders.

“The robots are doing what they’re supposed to do, and now, it’s more managing the cows every day as far as herd health and feeding,” Mark said. “How much more do you want to tweak it to get more milk out of the cow without spending the big money?”

For example, conversations with their nutritionist may focus on cutting hay at a certain stage or making corn silage at a certain stage.

“The cows have the comfort here already, so that’s not an issue anymore,” Mark said. “Now it’s taking care of the feed and bringing up the production according to what you’re feeding them.”