Dec. 11, 2024
How a digital Rotary parlor supports sustainable dairy farming
How do you lead a dairy farm into the next generation, while ensuring a more sustainable future and animal welfare and managing the increasing complexity of the business? This is a question almost every dairy farmer around the world must consider. The Hanenberg family from the Netherlands opted for modern technology and digitalization to secure their future. Brothers Teun and Joris Hanenberg have been running a farm with 280 cows. Laying the foundation for a farming future suitable for their children was a key motivation for their investment in modern equipment.
Teun and Joris Hanenberg are both dairy farmers at heart. Having grown up on their family farm and stepped into the profession at early age, the brothers decided to take over and make a living for their families. It was clear that the old side-by-side milking parlor would not fit their needs for work efficiency and comfort for the milker and the cows. An investment in automation and digitalization would clearly pave the way into a productive and sustainable future while allowing for a happy family life.
The Hanenbergs needed no convincing that their contribution to society in delivering high-quality milk, providing a healthy environment for their animals and helping to decrease the environmental effects of dairy farming by using latest technology is worth the effort. Together with their families and their milker, Jenneke, they decided to take on the financial burden and invest in a new rotary milking parlor with digitalized technology for milking and herd management.
Planning of the new milking parlor took about two and a half years. Together with a team of GEA experts from barn design, product development, service, herd management, milking expertise and their local GEA dealer, the family developed their idea of an increasingly sustainable milking operation: Labor comfort and flexibility with high animal welfare and economic viability but low operating costs through intelligent energy management.
Highly efficient for a sustainable milking operation
Today, a rotary parlor of the latest generation, the GEA DairyRotor T8600, equipped with GEA DigiTron milking control units, slowly turns in rounds. Three times per day the cows are milked in a stress-free and spacious surrounding. The herd management system DairyNet constantly keeps track of the cows’ welfare as well as the efficiency of the operation. Before the milking, the staff uses GEA FutureCow to support a reliable and consistent teat preparation.
Smart information supports sound decision-making
Looking back, Teun Hanenberg sees the development on his farm very positively. The cows easily adjusted to the new environment and take a relaxed feeding portion while standing on the comfortable platform with cow-friendly design. And so did the people. Although the herd is milked three instead of two times a day, the absolute milking time has decreased by 1.5 hours due to optimized procedures and quicker workflows. This time that can be used more flexibly for other tasks and to release the family from long daily routines.
According to data from Statista (see link below), the global farm management software and data analytics market has significantly increased in the last years by roughly 17% CAGR and will continue to grow. There’s a clear relation to growing dairy herd sizes. Even when milkers are close to their cows several times a day, modern herd management systems are a great help for farmers.
Even more important is that the equipment on farm and especially the milking parlor come with a digital infrastructure. Hanenberg values the option to adapt to future developments like new sensors or new algorithms on machines or new cow, herds or milking data. He is convinced that digital technology will support him in ever more tasks on his farm.
Coming back to the next milking shift, milker Jenneke has prepared everything for the cows. With everything right at her fingertips, she enjoys her workplace like never before. The ergonomic and also innovative design of the parlor is a clear plus. She smiles when neighbors ask her about her work “on the spaceship” with colorful buttons and lightning to support easy handling.
More than half of the work on German farms, including seasonal work, is done by hired labor. In times of labor shortage and varying labor skills, it's very important that the level of technology and digitalization does not overwhelm the workers in a milking rotary. The system needs to be understandable even without language skills. Symbols, buttons, signals and colors make life easier and reduce retraining needs. Michael Strotmann, Product Manager Conventional Milking Systems at GEA, helped design a system that people intuitively understand. Being in control of the process and interfering at the right alert messages when something critical happens is an important aspect of the system. It was important not over-engineer but to make sure it's a modern parlor meeting all the needs of Next Generation dairy farmers in its ease of use, service and handling.
While the cows are queuing to start the milking, the spaceship is starting to turn around, and Teun and Joris Hardenberg are off to other tasks on the farm.
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