Frustrated by the overcrowding and what he felt to be the over-regulated environment of his native Netherlands homeland, dairyman Govert deGier relocated his family 22 years ago to the more spacious surroundings of central Alberta.

Today, he and his wife Frieda, along with their two sons, Hendrik and Paul, operate a 400 head, five quarter section dairy farm west of Ponoka, about 50 miles south of Edmonton. Their 500 acres of productive farm land produces feed exclusively for the dairy operation and includes alfalfa, grass silage, corn silage and barley silage.

The dairy's only full time employee is herdsman Merlin Klopstra, who Govert says is more of a teammate than an employee. Frieda, an equal and supportive partner throughout the transition from Holland to Canada, handles the administration of the dairy business in addition to raising the family.

The Human Element

While milking is essentially free of human involvement with the 110 cows in the robotic system, someone must check on the operation briefly three times a day. A worker in the robotic barn looks for cows that need to be milked but for some reason did not go through the automated parlor on their own. These cows must then be physically directed into the robotic milking stalls.

The robotic milking concept is based on the famous principle of Pavlov's dog, stimulus and response. Essentially, the cows have to pass individually through a robotic milking stall to reach feed at the other end. "The cow makes the choice of when it wants to be milked, freeing up your time for basic herd management and maintenance," says herdsman Merlin Klopstra.

Milking Robots

The robotic milking machine is an air-hydraulic device equipped with a laser scanner. Once it detects that a cow has entered the stall, the laser scanner directs the milking cups to the cowís teats and hydraulically pushes them into place.

The system monitors milk production, then releases when it detects that the cow has delivered all her milk. The system is linked to a PC and automatically logs in the amount of milk produced by each cow. It can also be programmed to distinguish between different milk formulas, such as milk with or without antibiotics, and can separate that milk into different holding tanks.

While the robotic system operates on a 24 hour-a-day basis, there are about 21 hours of actual milking time. Three hours are needed for two wash cycles and occasional unscheduled downtime, for cleaning a dirty laser eye or replacing a hose.

Handling Breakdowns

If a problem occurs, the system dispatches a cell-phone signal to the person on call. Three-quarters of the mechanical problems are usually handled by the staff. For larger problems, service support is only five minutes away in Ponoka.

When Govert's sons, Paul and Hendrik, committed themselves to the family dairy business, it made the decision to invest in the new robotic milking technology much easier.

"The farm was ready for it," added Paul. "Expansion was inevitable. It was just a decision of whether to go with the parlor system or the robotics."

So they went with robotics in the new system as an expansion, but retained the original 90-cow conventional milking system, where cows are milked three times a day. The two systems make for valuable side-by-side comparisons.

The deGier family's Dutch dairy industry contacts helped to supplement what information they were able to gather in North America concerning the viability of robotic milking technology. While the family's old country connections were helpful, Govert says it was the combination of the farm's expansion plans, his sons' involvement in the business, their computer knowledge, and continued operation of a conventional dairy barn in tandem with the robotic dairy barn that has led to a successful expansion.

More Expensive

They quickly discovered that expanding the dairy by building a barn for robotic milking technology would be more expensive than a conventional dairy barn. A dual robotic system was going to cost $500,000 (Canadian) for a 120-cow dairy barn, while a 120-cow conventional operation would come in at about $300,000 (Canadian). They anticipated, however, that the higher initial cost for the robotic system would balance out once it reached its full production potential, and issues such as cow replacement and greater time flexibility were factored in.

The deGiers' immediate focus is to improve on the number of daily milkings per cow in the robotic operation so milk production equals or exceeds that of their conventional operation.

They have discovered a major benefit to operating a conventional system side-by-side with the robotic system. About 10 percent of the cows in the robotic herd prove to be unsuitable for that system. It seems these cows have an unusual teat alignment which makes it difficult for the laser eye to properly place the milking cups. In their dual system, these cows can be relocated to the conventional milking barn.

Different Herd Management

Paul believes that while robotic technology is viable and economical, more research and development in the area of herd management within the context of operating a robotic milking system is needed. "There is very little knowledge of that here in North America," he said. His father cautions, however, that it is not a simple matter of parachuting concepts from Holland into the North American dairy industry. There are significant differences in nutrition and climate between the two geographic regions that also need to be considered.

"But Dad still makes the final decisions," commented Hendrik.

The family has no regrets about taking on the role of guinea pig regarding the introduction of robotic milkers in North America. The system has met their expectations so far and they believe they can achieve production equal to their conventional system.

As a major time saver it has also fulfilled another need: "You need to have some fun in life, otherwise, where's the challenge?" concluded Govert.