Breaking free from the chains of the past Where
truth moves faster than a Holstein calf No law
waiting on some printed page We're charting new
ground in the digital age From genomic codes
to robot facts We cut through the noise, no hold
them back not your daddy's dairy news tonight
we're sparking Welcome to the Bullvine Podcast,
your go -to spot for bold, no -nonsense insights
on the dairy industry. Today, we're diving into
a hot topic impacting dairy farmers everywhere,
the growing automation gap, and what it means
for the future of your farm's productivity and
profitability. Stay with us as we unpack the
challenges, trends, and real -world strategies
that can help you compete and thrive in today's
rapidly evolving livestock landscape. So grab
your coffee, find a comfortable seat, and let's
get after it. Welcome back to the Bullvine Podcast,
the show that digs deep into the topics that
matter to dairy producers. That's right. Today
we're tackling a really interesting feature article
from the Bullvine that's got everyone talking.
We're going to break it all down. And it's a
crucial one, focusing on automation. The article
kicks off with this really vivid image. It really
does. Picture this. It's 4 a .m. You're heading
out to milk, right? And you look over at your
neighbor's poultry barns. Yeah. Completely silent
at 5 a .m., just quiet. But inside, 25 ,000 birds
are being handled automatically. Fed, watered,
climate control, everything, while the farmer
might still be asleep. Wow. That really hammers
on the point, doesn't it? The core competitive
disadvantage for traditional dairy right now
because of labor. Absolutely. The article lays
out the numbers pretty starkly. Dairy folks are
spending, what, 20 to 30 percent of their production
budget just on labor? Yeah, a huge chunk. Now,
compare that. Those automated boiler houses,
it's like 1 .6 to 2 .4 percent. Tiny fraction.
And even pig farming is lower, around 9 percent,
I think it said. Exactly. It's not just a gap.
It's, well, it's a chasm. And that translates
into real dollars. For a million pound operation,
the article estimates upwards of $150 ,000 a
year disadvantage. Right off the top. And that's
before you even think about the sheer headache
of finding reliable workers, especially for,
you know, holidays or weekends. Oh, yeah. It's
relentless. So when you see those numbers, it
makes sense why this gap is seen as, well, potentially
redefining the industry. For sure. And this leads
right into the automation data in dairy itself.
There's some interesting Cornell research mentioned.
Right. The farms that have adopted automation,
they're seeing significant cuts in labor costs.
over 21 % on average. And some are getting close
to 29 % savings. Huge numbers. But here's the
weird part, the kicker, right? Only about 5 %
of U .S. dairies are actually using robotic milking
systems. It feels like a mismatch. It really
does. But get this, that tiny 5%, they're producing
something like 45 % of the nation's milk. 45
% from just 5 % of the farms. Yeah. That tells
you just how incredibly impactful this technology
is, even with low adoption rates so far. So connecting
those dots, this labor automation gap, it's not
just some side issue. It seems like it's the
main thing driving consolidation. I think the
article makes a strong case for that. And it's
not happening slowly either. It says the pace
is accelerating faster than maybe people realize.
It's shifting from if to when for a lot of farms,
it sounds like. Yeah, definitely. So how did
other sectors handle this, like poultry or swine?
Did they face similar pressures? Well, they found
their own paths kind of driven by different things.
Poultry is interesting. Also. The big players,
you know, Tyson, Purdue, they basically told
their contract growers, you will use this specific
equipment. They mandated it. Pretty much. And
just like that, boom, a $2 billion North American
automation market was born. They guaranteed the
demand. And the result. Modern broiler house,
25 ,000 birds, less than one full -time employee
needed per house. Just incredible efficiency.
Wow. Okay, so that was integrator -driven. What
about swine? What pushed them? For swine, it
was more about animal welfare pressure. Things
like California's Prop 12 rules in the EU, pushing
away from gestation stalls. Ah, right. Group
housing. Exactly. Which led to the rise of electronic
sow feeders, ESF systems, you know, RFID tags,
individual feeding in a group setting. Clever
tech. And that market's growing. Big time. The
article projects it'll double. From about $1
.3 billion now to nearly $2 .7 billion by 2032.
That's a serious trend. And it works in practice,
too. There's a case study, right? An international
swine operation. Yeah, cut their workforce from
25 people down to 10. Well, increasing output.
Yep. Went from 25 weaned piglets per sow per
year up to 28. So fewer people. More production.
That's the automation promise, really. So, okay,
poultry and swine found ways. Why is dairy struggling
so much more with the labor side? Why can't we
just copy them? Well, dairy has some unique hurdles.
First off, the workforce is getting older. USDA
data shows foreign -born farm workers' average
age climbed quite a bit between 2006 and 2022.
And that's a big deal because... Because immigrant
workers are absolutely crucial. They make up
over half, 51 % of the labor on U .S. dairy farms.
Wow. And they produce nearly 80 % of the milk.
Some experts think the dependency is even higher,
maybe 60%. 80 % of the milk comes from farms
relying on immigrant labor. That's staggering.
It is. And then you hit the regulatory wall,
the H -2A visa program. The one for farm labor.
Yeah, but it's designed by law for temporary
or seasonal work. Think harvesting crops. But
dairy isn't seasonal. You need milkers every
single day, 365 days a year. Exactly. So the
program is basically useless for dairy's year
-round needs. It puts farmers in a bind that,
say, crop farmers don't face in the same way.
An impossible position, really. And what happens
when you have high demand and restricted supply
of labor? Wages go up. Way up. Bingo. The article
mentions $22 an hour in California's Central
Valley, Wisconsin seeing $18, maybe $20, especially
if you need reliable weekend help. At those wage
rates, suddenly the cost of robots doesn't look
so bad. Precisely. the payback period just collapses.
Down to maybe three or four years in some cases,
it becomes almost a no -brainer financially.
But it's getting even worse than just cost, isn't
it? Yeah, the article notes, some farms in the
Central Valley have had help -wanted signs for
eight months straight. Eight months. And they
just can't find people at any price. Yeah. It's
not about affording labor anymore. It's about
finding it at all. That's a crisis. It really
is. And it plays out differently depending on
where you are. You know, California squeezing
smaller dairies, Wisconsin's family labor tradition
changing, Idaho building new and automated, Texas
kind of a mix, the Northeast adopting fast because
costs are so high. It's complex. So labor savings
are the obvious push. But the article argues
there's a lot more to it, right? The benefits
go beyond just cutting staff. Oh, absolutely.
That Cornell research. Yes, 21, 29 percent labor
cost reduction is great. But the article calls
that just the entry fee. OK, so what's the bonus?
Milk production, for one, big one. 58 % of farms
that put in automated milking systems, AMS, report
higher production. Higher. How much? Typically
5 % to 10 % more milk. It's because cows can
choose to be milked more often, especially fresh
cows, maybe three times a day or more voluntarily.
Instead of just twice a day in a conventional
setup. Exactly. Every extra trip to the robot
is more potential yield. Let's put numbers on
that. A 500 -cow herd, say, averaging 70 pounds
a day, a 7 % increase. Okay. 70 pounds times
500 cows is 35 ,000 pounds. 7 % of that is 2
,450 extra pounds per day. Wow. 2 ,450 pounds
daily. What's that worth? $22 per 100 weight
and a brute. Let's see. 24 .500 weight times
$22. That's about $539 extra every single day.
$539 a day annually. Over $196 ,000 a year. Just
from the melt increase, that alone could justify
the robot investment for many. Easily. And that's
before you even look at feed efficiency. Right.
The automated feeding systems. TMR consistency.
Exactly. Robots mix it the same way every time.
Humans. Not always. Plus, they reduce waste significantly.
The article mentioned 1 ,000 cow operations saving
maybe $50 ,000 a year just from better mixing
and less feed refusal. $50 ,000 is not small
change. Not at all. And then there's the health
side. This part's really fascinating. The sensors,
monitoring mastitis, lameness. Yeah. Those systems
apparently have the fastest ROI of almost any
dairy tech. Payback in just over two years, like
2 .1 years on average. How? By catching problems
earlier. Precisely. Catching one mastitis case
early saves you, what, $300 to $500? Spotting
lameness before it gets bad can save over $1
,000 per cow, considering treatment, lost milk,
replacement costs. So it shifts you from reacting
to problems to proactively managing health. Totally.
You're ahead of the curve. You know, it's not
just the business metrics, though. That quote
from the Wisconsin film really stuck with me.
It's fun about his son's football games. Yeah.
Saying the robots weren't just about saving labor,
but about finally being able to go watch his
kid play on a Friday night. That quality of life
aspect. It's huge. Often overlooked, but maybe
the most valuable benefit for many people. Yeah.
Making the whole lifestyle sustainable, right?
Yeah. That freedom. Yeah. It surprises us sometimes.
Definitely. But, okay, the tech is powerful,
but the article stresses it's not magic. Management
is the key ingredient. Absolutely critical. And
the data backs this up strongly. There's this
huge performance gap between AMS farms. How big
a gap? The top 25 % get around 4 ,200 pounds
of milk per robot per day. Right. The bottom
25%. Only 2 ,900 pounds. Wow, that's over 40
% difference with the same machines. 42 % difference,
yeah. Same hardware, vastly different results.
It proves automation is an amplifier. It amplifies
good management, but it also amplifies poor management.
Exactly. If your underlying systems or management
practices are weak, the robots won't fix that.
They might even make things worse or just be
incredibly inefficient. So what are the top performers
doing differently? What's their secret sauce?
It's not really a secret, just good discipline.
They live by the data -checking robot metrics
daily. They obsess over cow flow. A bad barn
layout kills robot efficiency. Makes sense. Cows
have to get there easily. Right. They stick to
preventive maintenance schedules religiously.
And crucially, they train everyone, not just
the herd manager, but all staff who interact
with the system. That's a big one. Often missed,
I bet. They're always looking to tweak and improve,
continuous improvement. The bottom performers,
the article kind of implies they just install
it and hope for the best. Install and hope isn't
much of a strategy. Not for getting the most
out of a major investment, no. Okay, so this
all paints a picture of, well... The article
calls it a great divide in the industry. Which
brings us to the future outlook and how farms
can actually navigate this. Yeah, that divide
is stark. Remember the numbers. Only 13 % of
farms use computerized milking, but they account
for 45 % of the milk. And the only farm size
category actually growing is the really big ones,
2 ,500 cows plus. Those leaders are hitting incredible
efficiency numbers, like 100, 120 cows per full
-time employee. Double the industry average.
Double. But what about the mid -sized guys? The
100 to, say, 500 cow dairies? The article sounds
pretty grim for them. It calls it an existential
squeeze. They're often too small for the huge
AMS setups, but too big now for just family labor.
Census data show they took a big hit recently.
So is it hopeless for them? Or are there strategies?
No, not hopeless. But they need to be smart.
There's a great example in the article of 500
Cal Wisconsin Farm. What did they do? Invested
about $380 ,000 in two AMS units and automated
feed pushers. Saved $85 ,000 a year by cutting
3 .250 E's. Yeah. Payback in about 4 .5 years.
Okay. So it is possible. The lesson seems to
be start smart. Don't try to do everything at
once. Exactly. Target your biggest pain point
first. Maybe it's labor for milking. Maybe it's
feed consistency. So if someone listening is
trying to figure out where to start, does the
article offer a kind of roadmap, a decision tree?
Yeah, it lays out some practical steps based
on size. For smaller herds, 150, 300 cows. Maybe
start with automated ID and health monitoring.
Lower cost entry point. Right, like 25K to 40K.
Good ROI, gets you used to managing with data.
For 300, 600 cows, maybe look at partial stuff
first. Feed pushers, sort gates, then plan for
AMS when you expand or build new. And the bigger
guys, over 600. They're likely already deep into
considering full automation. Their focus should
be more on integration, getting all the systems
talking to each other efficiently. And the number
one rule for new construction. Design for automation
from the get -go. Retrofitting an old barn is
always way more expensive, maybe 40 % more, and
usually less effective. Okay, good advice. Looking
ahead, what's coming down the pipe? Stuff that's
not just science fiction anymore. Well, the robot
market itself is exploding, going from about
$3 .4 billion now to over $6 billion by 2029.
That's huge growth, over 15 % a year. That momentum
means costs should come down, expertise should
spread. Exactly. But it also means the clock
is ticking. The article throws out a pretty stark
warning delaying past 2028. You risk permanent
lockout. Permanent lockout from competitive markets.
That sounds final. It implies the efficiency
gap will become so large, it'll be almost impossible
to catch up or compete on price if you haven't
made the leap. It could force consolidation or
exits. So beyond milking robots, what else is
emerging? AI for health prediction is getting
really good. predicting mastitis maybe 48, 72
hours before symptoms show with high accuracy,
robotic calf feeders showing better weaning weights,
drones for checking herds, even voice -activated
farm management. Voice -activated? Like asking
Alexa about your somatic cell count? Kind of.
The point is, these tools amplify the manager's
judgment. They don't replace it. They give you
better information faster. Okay, this is a lot
to take in. It can feel overwhelming. Does the
article suggest a way to just... Get started?
Like a 90 -day plan? Yeah, it breaks it down
nicely. First 30 days, assess. Really track your
time, your costs. Calculate that labor cost per
hundredweight. And crucially, go visit other
automated farms like yours. See it in action.
Get real ROI projections based on your farm.
Okay, month one, homework and visits. Month two.
Decision time. Secure your financing. Pick your
technology partner and focus on service and support,
not just the cheapest sticker price. And start
management training. Focusing on how to use the
data, prep for launch, finalize the install timeline,
prepare your staff for the changes this is critical
and often rushed, and set your baseline metrics
so you can track progress once it's running.
Good practical steps. What about pitfalls? What
are the common mistakes people make? Number one,
underestimating the learning curve. It takes
time, maybe six to 12 months, to really dial
in a new system. Don't expect perfection on day
one. Okay, patience is key. What else? Skimping
on training. Everyone needs to understand the
system. Choosing a vendor just on price. Ignoring
service needs later. Trying to shoehorn tech
into a facility that just isn't right for it.
Facility compromises. Yeah. And maybe the biggest
mistake. Expecting the technology to magically
fix underlying management problems. It won't.
It'll just automate your existing problems if
you're not careful. Right. It amplifies what's
already there, good or bad. Okay. After digging
through all of this, if you had to boil it down.
What's the single most critical takeaway for
a farmer listening right now? I'd say really
calculate your current labor cost per hundredweight.
The article suggests if it's over $4, automation
likely pays for itself in three, four years based
on labor savings alone. That's a concrete number
to start with. Know your number. Know your number.
That's clear. And remember the other benefits
stack on top of that. The health center ROI is
incredibly fast, just over two years, saving
hundreds or thousands per case prevented. Maybe
start there if full robots feel too big initially.
Good point. Start small, build confidence. What
about feed? Feed savings add up fast, especially
on larger farms. $50 ,000 plus a year isn't unusual
for a 1 ,000 cow herd, just from better TMR consistency
and less waste. Even feed pushers have a quick
payback, around two years. And milk bump. That
5 -10 % production increase is real for most
AMS adopters. For that 500 cow example, it was
nearly $200 ,000 a year extra revenue. That alone
can carry the investment. So the final thought
on timing, why now? Because that competitive
gap is widening every day. Waiting too long,
especially past that suggested 2028 timeframe,
genuinely risks being left behind. And if you're
building new, designed for automation now, don't
pay 40 % more to retrofit later. The future's
automated, and it's arriving faster than we thought.
Great insights. And that's all the time we have
for today's deep dive into this crucial article.
For more articles and insights, be sure to visit
www .thebullvine .com. Don't forget to subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.
And maybe think about this. As the industry shifts,
success won't just be about efficiency, but about
building a farm and a lifestyle that works for
the next generation too. What will your future
farm look like? Thanks for listening to The Bullvine
Podcast. If you found today's episode valuable,
Be sure to subscribe and share it with your dairy
community. For more actionable insights to keep
your farm ahead of the curve, visit us anytime
at www .thebullvine .com. Until next time, keep
striving, keep innovating, and keep leading the
way in dairy farming.