Arvilla is the only milker responsible for milking the 55 Jersey cows who call Stone House Farm their home.
Arvilla works 24/7/365. About 160 times a day she is putting a milking machine on a cow. But Arvilla is not a human; she’s a robot. The switch to a robotic milker at this historic farm in Sharon Springs, NY, was a no-brainer for Tim and Patti Everett, who have been dairy farmers for 45 years.
“It was a logical step for us,” said Tim. “We are a small family farm, and the next generations of our family continue to have a strong interest in the farm, so we had to come up with a way to keep everything running efficiently.”
The next generations include his daughter Randi and son-in-law Tim and their children, Maya, 13, and Kaden, 9; and daughter Amy and son-in-law Scott and their children, Bella, 14, and Mason, 7.
“As we thought about the future of the family farm, we realized that it was time to revolutionize what we had here for a lot of different reasons,” Tim said.
While Tim and Patti continue to oversee the overall operation of the farm, their children and grandchildren play important roles to keep everything running smoothly. “We were at the point where we were realizing that the time the 10 of us spent together was always doing work, and part of this decision was in being conscious of a lifestyle change too,” Tim explained. “Not that there’s anything wrong with working together – we still do that too!”
While the decision to look into a robotic milker was a fairly easy one, the steps in researching and purchasing the right robot for their herd took some time. The family traveled to several farms across New York State already using robots to see what worked and what didn’t for each operation. They had conversations with representatives from DeLaval and Lely to see which company could best meet their vision. It was the DeLaval InControl milking system that Tim and Patti finally decided on.
“One of the trips that really sold us on DeLaval was to Trinity Valley Dairy in Cortland. All of us agreed that we just liked the way it worked for their herd, and could see it working similarly for us,” Patti said.
The Everetts approached this change like they have others over the years at the farm: full speed ahead. “We pretty much made everything happen within a six-month timeframe,” Tim said.
They broke ground on the addition to the original barn in April 2023 and first started putting the cows through the robot on Oct. 31.
“Those six months were not easy by any means,” said Patti. “Milking in shifts and getting the cows in and out of the barn all throughout the day was tiring, but in the end, it was all worth it.”
After over 35 years of sharing milking responsibilities in their former 40-cow tie-stall barn, both daughters expressed a tinge of sadness at the change to this familiar routine but agreed it was truly the best move for the farm.
“It’s the fact that we genuinely liked being in the barn with the cows every day that made it sad to see our old operation change,” said Randi.
“Now we just spend time with the cows in a different way,” added Amy.
Installing new technology and diversifying their operation means the Everetts are working on making their operation secure for the next generations. Submitted photo
The DeLaval reps shared how much more in tune with the management aspect of the dairy the Everetts would be when switching to a robotic milker. It’s proven true. Instead of spending hours milking the cows, they spend that time observing them and studying the data provided as each cow is milked.
“We can see everything from which quarter is producing the most milk to how many times a day each cow is milked to how much a cow is eating to how much milk each cow milks every day,” Tim explained. “It makes it easy to spot if there is a cow who is off feed, or if there is just one that needs some extra attention.”
The change to a free-stall barn to accommodate a robotic milker was a big adjustment. This was one of the biggest areas of hesitancy for the family, who enjoyed many aspects of their tie-stall barn.
“Cow comfort and cleanliness have always been our biggest priorities,” said Tim. “Between all of our family members, we spent a lot of time just walking through the barn throughout the day making sure all the cows had plenty of bedding and combing or brushing them. We wanted to make sure that our cows were still going to be plenty comfortable and clean in a free-stall as well.”
One of the pieces of that puzzle included allowing their cows to continue to go out to pasture. As the design of the free-stall barn began, one of the main focuses was ensuring that the cows had a door that would give them the ability to go in and out on their own.
“We thought we would try to do a retrofit of what we already had. We knew that simply installing the robot would mean that the setup of the barn needed to change, so we made it a priority to talk to different architects about what could be done,” Tim explained. “As we got going we realized the retrofit wasn’t going to happen. So we utilized 60 feet of the existing barn to accommodate the robot area and built a 65-cow free-stall barn.”
They also added an overhead conveyor system to the feed alley using the mixer in the feed room and kept their original tunnel ventilation system but moved the location of it. Much of the labor was accomplished by family and friends.
“The dairy industry is constantly changing,” said Tim. “The milk prices, feed prices, labor costs, cull cow prices – the fluctuation has existed as long as I have been a dairy farmer.” A need for some type of consistency was another factor that led to the Everetts’ decision to look into a robotic milker.
Since moving onto Stone House Farm in 1986, Tim and Patti have diversified their farm greatly, particularly in the last 20 years, expanding to include producing maple syrup, making hay and selling beef. It’s all in an effort to keep their family farm financially sound.
“Each time we focused more on diversification, we would downsize our milking herd to allow us to put our best efforts into whatever that next phase was. For example, six years ago when we added onto our beef herd, we sold 30 milk cows so that we were only milking eight cows. Clearly, that idea of a small Jersey herd didn’t last long,” Tim laughed. “Each time we have downsized the dairy, our numbers have quickly climbed right back up as all of us realize that these little brown cows are a part of who we are.”
As they come up on their first anniversary of having Arvilla installed, the Everetts are feeling confident with their decision. There have been hiccups along the way, but for the most part, all has gone well. Amy has taken the lead on the computer programming aspect of the operation. She regularly checks to see if there are cows who should have their grain increased when they come in the robot or if there are cows who need their robot visits limited.
The grandkids have all loved learning the computer system as well and check daily to see who the high producing cow is and how much she is making.
Where did the name Arvilla come from when they named their robot? “My grandmother, Arvilla Herklotz, fits the image one might have of the traditional ‘milkmaid,’” Patti said. “When my family had their farm in Franklin I have vivid memories of her in the kitchen, wearing her apron, doing all of the baking and occasionally making the trip to the milk house to grab more milk to add to her recipes.”
“The robot needed a name, so Arvilla as the milkmaid just came right to our mind,” Tim said. And in the past year, Arvilla has been getting the job done well at Stone House Farm.
by Randi Korona
Great story. I love hearing about smaller dairy operations that are taking advantage of technology to keep the farm on the family for the next generation.
love this