A new experience will be opening at Fair Oaks Farms this spring that will showcase the newest technology for milking cows. Dr. Mike McCloskey, owner of Fair Oaks, says they’ve been operating 12 robots that milk close to 800 cows since March of 2019, and it’s gone smoother than they could have imagined.
“Our new heifers, so these are cows that are 24-months-old that just had their first baby and never been in a milking barn before, they’re training to the robot in 24 hours. Some maybe 48, but no longer than that. They’re very comfortable with it. They love going in and out. They milk whenever they want to milk. We call it a little bit of a ‘millennial dairy’ because they do what they want to do, when they want to do it, and they’re very happy that way.”
When will the new robotic dairy be open to the public?
“We are just giving the final touches to the visiting center within the robotic where you have a total view of everything that’s going on and you get to see how the robots work and how the cows interact. It’s just a phenomenal visiting center. I think that by April, but no later than May, we will be open to the public on a daily basis.”
McCloskey says it’s their goal to continually improve the environments for their cows. As technology advances, this will allow them to do just that.