Episode 4: Alan Davis discusses the shift to robotics and how data, herd health and profitability are intertwined

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Alan Davis of Davis Farms LLC in Butler/Armstrong County, Pennsylvania describes his family’s decision to upgrade to robots versus building a new parlor for their 150-cow herd. He shares how the shift to robotics has helped them make data-driven breeding decisions and achieve earlier intervention when it comes to herd health. From managing heifer inventories to budgeting and balancing debt load, Alan opens up about navigating bottlenecks, learning that less is sometimes more, and using their data to make financially advantageous decisions.

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!“Profitability is paramount, and we try to never be satisfied. What can we do to keep pushing production and maximize our facility?”Speaking to their forward-thinking approach and eye for critical details, David Sattazahn, who farms with his brother Doug and wife Katie on Zahncroft Dairy in Berks County, Pennsylvania, reflects on some of the decisions that have led their family, farm and herd to where they are today in this episode of Cow-Side Conversations. After transitioning the family farm and then completing an expansion in 2017, today the Sattazahn family farms about 300 acres and milks 315 cows in a double-twelve parlor and sand-bedded, free stall set-up. David describes the decision-making process of moving to 3x a day milking, switching to custom drag lining and manure injection, hiring and mentoring a dairy herd manager apprentice, honing in on reproduction, creating energy corrected milk goals for the year, and more. To avoid complacency and drive profitability, David says they critique what they’re doing, work with experts they trust, try new ideas, evaluate the results, and remain open to switching course as the farm evolves.

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Jeremy Martin of Mountain View Holsteins LLC in Berks County, Pennsylvania shares his unconventional journey after taking over management of his family’s dairy farm at the young age of 17 when his father unexpectedly passed away. With 140 cows in their herd, Jeremy describes how he focuses on production, cow comfort, breeding, and ways to make farming fun. Jeremy also shares how he has shifted more into business management over the last three years, his outlook on avoiding burnout, and his philosophy on what farm transition looks like when working with the next generation.

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!“I always believed I was bringing my husband home. I also believed he could not come home to an empty barn. I was going to do everything to make sure there were cows here. He needed something to fight for.”In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Kerri Weber of Rustik Dairy LLC in Franklin County, Pennsylvania opens up about her journey navigating her husband Rob’s unexpected brain aneurysm 15 months ago. After more than 100 days in hospitals and rehab centers, Rob returned home to the farm just in time for Thanksgiving last year. This season is a reminder of what they walked through and how blessed they are to still have Rob with them. During the podcast, Kerri describes how their journey in dairy farming started and where they are now. Eight years ago, she and Rob started dairy farming from scratch, renting different facilities and growing their herd until they entered into a partnership with two brothers. About four weeks after her husband’s brain injury, Kerri was faced with finishing the transition process on her own and making the decision to sell the cows or buy out the rest of the partnership. Knowing Rob needed to come home to a full barn, Kerri made a decision to move forward with the transition. She reflects on her decision-making process, the trusted team they’ve built, the community that stepped up, and the simple joys she gathers from her animals and children. Ultimately, Kerri has learned how to be grateful for each day and for what they have even when the circumstances are not what she expected them to be.

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Steve Harnish of Central Manor Dairy LLC in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania describes how they address bottlenecks on their 200-cow dairy operation, navigate land price constraints, and leverage certain pieces of technology to manage their cows more intensively. From upgrading their transition cow facility and installing cow ID technology to investing in rumination boluses and benchmarking through DRMS data, Steve says not everything happened at once. But with patience and time, these upgrades have given them more data at their fingertips to be proactive with herd health and boost milk production. Steve also shares his leadership journey and what he learned along the way after serving on multiple boards and participating in advocacy efforts across the dairy industry. 

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, we welcome our first-ever dairy producer from outside of Pennsylvania. Dee Shafer of Shafdon Farms in Jefferson, Maryland describes her family’s 10-year journey of trying to turn things around financially – moving from a place of being financially strapped with lenders telling them to look for someone else to becoming financially strong and profitable. Some of their most significant adjustments involved bringing in a Profit Team, revamping their cropping strategy, increasing their herd size to maximize their facilities and boost production, and always remembering their faith. Since 2017, they have added about 200 cows to their herd, lowered their breakeven cost by close to $3 per hundredweight, and officially hit over 30,000 pounds of milk per day for their now 400-cow herd. While Dee says they still don’t have it all figured out, she shares the little things they focus on to save time, boost cash flow, reduce equipment costs, tighten their breeding strategies, and lower their breakeven cost. 

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Jennifer Metzler of Pleasant View Farms in Blair County, Pennsylvania opens up about an unexpected parlor fire and describes the aftermath – and recovery – for their 3,700-cow herd. Jennifer describes the on-the-spot decisions her family had to make and how humbled they were by the way their community showed up to support them. A total of 13 farms across Blair, Bedford and Huntingdon Counties took their cows in, and thanks to their community, they had all of their cows moved out to these different farms by 10:30am that morning, only a couple hours after the fire started. Jennifer also reflects on new opportunities that came from the fire, steps they’ve taken to prevent this type of emergency from happening again, and how a satellite dairy that’s four miles away from their home farm helped speed up the recovery process. 

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Zach Kreger of Kreger Farms in Tioga County, Pennsylvania describes how he and his wife, Heidi, have made slow and steady progress over the last 11 years on his family’s 75-cow dairy farm. From simple improvements like implementing a TMR mixer and tunnel ventilation to steady progress with transition planning and herd health, the Kregers have almost doubled production in a short amount of time. Zach focuses on finding bottlenecks that are holding the cows back and making everyday improvements to set the herd up for success. As a small dairy operation with no other outside income, Zach also shares ways they hold themselves accountable and inventive ideas they’ve found to achieve labor savings – such as installing a robotic feed pusher in their tie-stall barn.

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Greg Hemsarth of Hemsarth Dairy in Columbia County, Pennsylvania talks through his family’s decision to invest in robotic milking technology in 2018. He shares how that investment shifted his approach to employee management, affected his timeline for transition planning, impacted both herd health and labor costs, and allowed him to diversify and start a distillery. Greg describes some of the unique challenges – and unique solutions – that robot herds face during summer heat waves, his focus on training and retaining employees, and how he and his father have worked to smooth the road of transitioning the business over the last few years.   

Did you like this episode? Send us a text message and share your thoughts!In this episode of Cow-Side Conversations, Angie Breneman of Franklin View Farms LLC in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania describes their constant focus on cow comfort – and how after many years of making modifications to their current facilities, they reached a point of wanting to build a barn from scratch. She shares their upcoming three-stage project to build a new dry cow facility, three calf barns, and a compost stack shed. She also discusses the unique process of applying for financing when her family's goals were rooted in cow comfort, not necessarily growth in cow numbers. As someone who works with a lot of dairy farmers through her role at Penn State Extension, Angie opens up about work-life balance, how she juggles so many responsibilities while raising a family, farm safety tips for young children, and how an unexpected diagnosis put everything in perspective for her and her family. Her insight on mental and physical health is a great way to cap off Mental Health Awareness Month, and they are important reminders to think about all year long.