How Robots Led this Sixth Generation Farmer Home

In 1875, the Daugherty family farm was purchased along with 400 acres. Today Daugherty Farms milks 250 cows and farms 1,600 acres.
In 1875, the Daugherty family farm was purchased along with 400 acres. Today Daugherty Farms milks 250 cows and farms 1,600 acres.
(Daugherty Farms)

When sixth-generation dairy farmer, Kyle Daugherty, told his parents Bill and Caroline that he was interested in coming back to the family dairy, the Daugherty’s knew that they needed to start doing their homework to determine how the next chapter of their family dairy would unfold.

Kyle graduated from The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster in 2018. After graduation, he came back and worked on the farm for two years before becoming a partner in 2020, sustaining the family dairy operation into its sixth generation.

The Daugherty’s homework was more like multiple field trips, as they toured more than 20 robotic dairies to figure out what kind of investments they would need to incorporate into their dairy.

 Daugherty Family Dairy

Early History

In 1875, the Daugherty family farm was purchased along with 400 acres. Today Daugherty Farms milks 250 cows and farms 1,600 acres.

“Our three daughters all chose other professions, but our son always wanted to farm,” Caroline says. “We were thrilled to offer our son the same opportunity that we were given to continue in the dairy industry. We would not have done the expansion had it not been for Kyle’s choice to come back to the farm. It was the best decision we ever made.”

Kyle, along with his sisters, was born and raised on the family farm located 80 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio. Growing up, they milked cows and tended to their overall care. The core of milking cows, that each generation played a role in, was turned over to robots in March of 2020.

 Daugherty Family Dairy

Upgrade to Sustain the Family Farm

The family decided to upgrade from their double-4 herringbone parlor that was installed more than five decades ago and originally designed to milk 50 cows. As their herd size grew, milking time also grew, so the decision was made to invest in robotic technology to further sustain the family farm for generations to come.

“We’ve bought farms, but this is by far our largest investment in the future,” Bill says. “We felt, for us, to stay in the dairy industry, we needed to do something large enough that the next several generations could continue if we wanted to do it.”

The Daugherty's decided to build a brand-new barn with robotic milkers and an eight million gallon manure storage system. The barn was built with cow comfort in mind, as it includes variable speed fans that adjust to the temperature and a sprinkler system that kicks on at a certain temperature. Each cow sports a neck tag that measures rumination and cow activity. The robots also can measure the cow’s temperature and somatic cell count.

“Our farm’s mission is to support our families and employees, provide opportunities for the farm to continue to grow, to produce quality milk and promote the dairy industry to the best of our ability,” Caroline shares.

Daugherty Family Dairy

 Sustainability Focused

The new expansion also includes a 300-foot sand lane with three lagoons.

“We are recycling our sand, which is separated, dried and used for bedding,” Kyle says. “We have a three-stage lagoon with a 10-hp pump and we are recycling the water for our flush system.”

Other sustainable methods are illustrated by their farming practices, which include using cover crops on all of their corn silage ground and some of their soybean ground if they can get that planted early enough. They utilize all the cow’s manure to fertilize the fields and the majority of their crops are planted with no-tillage work.

Daugherty Family Dairy

Worth the Investment

Bill, Caroline and Kyle were intrigued with robots to bring a better work-life balance to the dairy farm.

They can monitor and manage the cows from their phones while performing other tasks on the farm and are not tied down to milk cows every day.

“Robots really provide flexibility for us,” he says.

 In addition to the improved work-life balance, the cows have also responded well to the transition from the older conventional parlor to robotic milking.

“We were getting 65 lbs. per cow when we moved to the new facility and today, we are currently averaging between 92 to 97 lbs. per cow in the hottest part of the summer,” Bill says.

Circling back to cow comfort, the new barn is the coolest place on their farm.

“Including our 150-year-old house,” Caroline jokes.

Cows lie on sand bends with fans and sprinkler systems and keep the cows cool and comfortable.

 Daugherty Family Dairy

“In our old facility they would come into the milking parlor panting and now they are stress-free,” Bill says.

The Daugherty family is glad that they did their homework to visit numerous dairies to help determine the blueprints of their current facility. The new barn’s focus on cow care has not only helped improve milk production, but also helped set the new beginnings for the sixth-generation dairy farmer.

Kyle is excited to see where his herd’s production can go in the future with the advancements in technology and genetics.

“Dad has always said that when he got home from college 30 years ago, they were trying to get a couple of cows to produce 100 lbs. of milk per day,” Kyle shares. “Today if a cow doesn't hit 100 lbs. at some point in her lactation there is most likely something wrong with her.”

Kyle says one goal they have set for their farm is to get a cow to produce 200 lbs. of milk.

“In 30 years, we might be expecting all cows to produce 200 lbs.,” he says.

After more than two years of milking with robots, Kyle is convinced robots are the way of the future.

“There is never enough time in the day for farmers as it is ,and being able to have a robot do the everyday repeatable jobs can really free the farmer up to do other things,” Kyle says. “A lot of people struggle with the initial cost of them, but in reality it's just prepaying your labor.”

For now, no new expansion plans are on the docket, but Kyle’s vision for the future includes more technology being added.

“I believe we will add in the future a Lely Vector feeding system,” Kyle remarks. “Right now, I spend between 3-4 hours mixing and delivering feed every day. This system could free me up 15-20 hours a week and it most likely would do a better job feeding than I can.”

Bill and Caroline’s smiles are wide, not only because their son represents the sixth generation on their family farm, but because he has led with passion and drive to help make this path possible. 

 

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