Transitioning into the future

STARBUCK, Minn. — It didn’t take long for the Barsnesses to make plans for their future after Ethan joined his parents, Peder and Susan, in the operation of the dairy farm after college graduation. That is when robotic milkers entered the conversation.

“I was pretty ecstatic when they said they were going to do robots,” Susan said. “Our parlor was just worn out; nothing in there was worth saving. It was always in the back of our minds that Ethan would come back.”

The Barsnesses were milking in a double-6 herringbone parlor that was built in 1988. For many years, they relied on hired help with milking, but those roles were becoming increasingly hard to fill.

“For about 10 years we had a small group of high school students that were all part-time milkers for us,” Peder said. “A couple would take the mornings and the rest would take turns doing the evening milkings. It was great, but you don’t find kids like that anymore. Two years ago, we lost our second Hispanic worker, and I knew it was time to incorporate robotics.”

Ethan had been working at the dairy as much as he could while in high school and throughout college. He graduated from Ridgewater College in December 2024, and the family started making plans for robots in March 2025.

“We knew we either needed to stick a bunch of money into the parlor or put in robots,” Peder said. “With the parlor, you are always going to have hired help issues. For us, robots made the most sense.”

Peder had been thinking about robots for years prior, even flying to Canada in 1999 when robots first started appearing on farms there.

Knowing they would most likely invest in robots at some point, the Barsnesses began breeding their cows to accommodate the technology five years ago. In 2025, they toured other local facilities with robots to get an idea of what would work best for them.

Despite some topography challenges, the Barsnesses found a way to use their current barn, allowing for an easy transition to robots. In 2002, when they expanded the herd, they added on to the freestall barn. In 2025, they expanded again with another 28- by 100-foot extension to the barn. The free stalls were moved to the new addition; the robots were built into part of the existing barn.

“The cows were hardly disturbed all summer when we were under construction,” Ethan said. “I feel that is part of why our transition went so smoothly.”

On October 21, 2025, the three Lely A5 robots were ready to be put to work. Friends and family came over to help fetch and push cows through the first week. A team was on hand every 10 hours to help get cows accustomed to the new milking system.

“We flipped the switch one day and turned the robots on and transitioned them all at once,” Peder said. “We’ve always calved heavy later in the fall and winter, so it was easier for us to start up and train over the winter months.”

At that time, the Barsnesses were milking 125 cows, but over the fall and winter that number increased to about 170.

“It has worked great to calve in the late fall and winter, when we have more time to take care of the calves, milk the cows, and last year with transitioning to the robots,” Ethan said. “But going forward, we are going to have to even (calvings) out.”

Nearly a year in, the overall transition to robotic milking has gone well for the Barsnesses. Ethan does most of the work with the cows while Peder handles feeding and scraping. Ethan’s brother, Reed, is also responsible for checking and cleaning one robot before school in the mornings. 

“The cows are telling us that they are a lot happier being able to do everything on their own schedule by the numbers they are giving us,” Ethan said. “It is also nice having everything all on one system, and it’s been easier keeping track of their health, production and reproduction numbers.”

“We are still spending the same amount of time in the barn; it is just easier work and a lot more fun,” Peder said. “We can handle it all ourselves now.”

The Barsnesses said about 95% of the problems they encounter are due to inadequate water supply, meaning most of the phone calls from the robot are not really the robot’s fault. The Barsnesses are looking into addressing their well to combat the issue.

Robots have allowed for more flexibility for the family, but they have also changed their management style. This is something the whole family has joyfully embraced.

“One thing we had never done before was take a summer vacation,” Susan said. “This summer, Peder and I were able to leave for seven days.”

Automated gates help sort sick or problem cows, which has saved them time. Somatic cell count has also dropped since robots were installed.

“Somebody told me when we were considering robots that having robots is not going to make your profitability go up; they simply allow you to have more time to work on other things,” Peder said.

The future feels bright for the Barsnesses and they attribute that to embracing available technology.

“We are still in the learning process, but most of the time if there is an issue I can figure it out myself, and if not, we have to make a phone call to get it figured out,” Ethan said. “Growing up with technology, there are a lot of robotic things in our world, so robotic milkers aren’t anything too out of the realm of technology.”