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Energy is Efficiency

Member-owner Rohe Dairy recently received a rebate from Stearns Electric Association to install new robotic milking technology at their farm.

Rohe Dairy, LLC, is a dairy farm located in Freeport. Although the farm grows crops, raising dairy cows and producing milk is the primary part of their family business operation. Their herd consists of over 200 milking and dry cows and nearly 275 young stock cows, which include calves or moms that just had their first calf.

In its fourth generation of ownership, partners Marvin, Jim and Mike Rohe currently own and operate the family business. Michele Rohe, married to Marvin, takes care of the day-to-day business operations of the farm while their sons, Dustin, who plans to take ownership of the farm someday, and Cody, are also employed.

As Rohe Dairy begins preparation for fifth-generation ownership, the partners realized they wanted to start implementing changes now to help guide the farm through transition and prepare for future success.
One of the ways they could do this was by investing in robotic milking. Stearns Electric was happy to be
a part of this energy efficiency project, which assisted Rohe Dairy in obtaining a rebate to help pay for the new equipment.

Rohe Dairy, LLC, installs new robotic milking technology. Photo courtesy of Leedstone.

“Labor is getting more and more expensive and with the fluctuating market prices for milk, we chose to invest in robotic milking technology to help with business efficiency and consistency,” Michele said. “We hope by installing this new technology within our operation, we are able to produce more milk without purchasing more cows.”

Additionally, the new robotic milking system allows Rohe Dairy to have more control over the quantity
and quality of milk the cows are producing.

“The cows breed better and the software identifies sickness faster so we are able to take better care of our cows,” Michele continued.

COOPERATIVE COMMITMENT TO EFFICIENCY
Stearns Electric Association is committed to providing reliable electric service and innovative energy solutions for our members. For our residential members, we offer several different EnergyWise programs such as Dual Fuel, Stored Water Heating or Cycled Central Air Conditioning.

In order to help our commercial, industrial and agricultural (CI & A) members save money and use energy more wisely, we provide a more extensive rebate program for larger projects, in partnership with our wholesale power provider, Great River Energy.

“Our rebates assist our members with the initial cost of energy efficient installations,” James Pachan, Stearns Electric’s Manager of Energy Services, said.

“When we connect with our members as they begin to plan their project, it’s our goal to ensure that operational changes and new equipment are as energy efficient as possible.

We are also able to help determine energy and cost savings by calculating the anticipated return on investment before the project gets underway.”

“During the project, we can gather information for each specific rebate or answer any questions that may come up,” he continued. “After the project is complete, we process the paperwork and return a check to the member for their energy efficient improvements.”

By implementing this new technology, Rohe Dairy will have access to streamlined and reliable electric milking solutions for their farm. Despite the need to use more kilowatt hours of electricity over time, energy will be used more efficiently, which helps simplify daily operations on the farm.

“In the energy industry, this is known as beneficial electrification. Energy efficient products, like robotic milking systems, advancements in power plant technology and renewable energy development makes using electricity in new ways a smart choice. Even though there might be more energy use overall, energy is being used more efficiently, which helps promote renewable energy resources and helps electric utilities cut down on using fossil fuels like propane, natural gas and gasoline. A win-win for both the electric cooperative and the electric consumer,” Pachan explained.

HOW IT WORKS
With the new robotic system in place, the cows can essentially be milked whenever they feel like it. Each cow wears a device around its neck, which communicates with the robotic milking system to differentiate each cow. This device tracks each cow’s individual milking production, eating habits and activity levels. This information is sent back to the software program, allowing the partners of Rohe Dairy and Michele to easily track each cow in their herd.

When a cow decides it’s time to be milked, they mosey up to the robot on their own. Additional nutrient pellets are dispensed to keep the cow happy during the milking process. While the cows are eating, the robot’s arm cleans the cow’s udder and then uses laser technology to attach a cup to each teat for milking. Milk is collected and real-time milk production totals are sent directly to the computer software. Once the milking is complete, the cow walks back to the barn and the robot repeats the same process with the next cow.

Another robot is used in the barn to push feed to the cows consistently throughout the day, allowing the cows to eat whenever they would like. The idea behind this new technology is to keep the cows happy and content. Happy cows produce more milk.

“In addition to creating a new mind set for the farm, there is quite a bit of new technology and equipment to get used to in the new system,” Michele said.

“It’s a whole new way to think about farming – letting the animal decide when they want to be milked and how much they want to produce.”

THE NEW NORMAL

In the long run, the new robotic milking technology will save time and allow Rohe Dairy to both streamline and save on their overall operation expenses. However, employees and partners must get used to this new normal first.

“Each of us at Rohe Dairy are doing more hands-on work using the information that the robots give us to help improve breeding, health, feed inputs and outputs, and production,” she said. “Feeding has changed due to less batches of feed to mix and more flexibility in the time frame we need to feed the cows. The new technology means there is no need for someone to push up feed to the cows any longer as that is being done automatically with the robotic feed pusher.”

For the partners as well as the cows, adapting to the new technology has been key.

“The older cows are adapting – once they go through the robotic milking process once or twice, they do really well. But we also need to make sure we have enough people that know how to run the robots and read the information they provide. When it comes to this, I’m learning you really can teach some old dogs new tricks,” Michele said with a laugh.

“It really was a shock getting on-boarded to the new technology,” she recalled. “But now everyone on the farm seems happier as our time is a little more flexible when it comes to feeding and milking.”

“The new robotic milking system really is a whole new way of looking at our herd,” she concluded. “We are learning to do things differently than we used to.”

Stearns Electric Association is committed to helping our members use energy both safely and wisely. We offer a variety of rebates and special rates when our members make energy efficient improvements or enroll in an EnergyWise program through Stearns Electric. Contact our Energy Services Department at (320) 363-4630 for more information.

Rohe Dairy launches a new robotic milking system.

Michele Rohe shows off the new robotic milking technology software.