Planning Dairy Farms in Transition
Dairy farms in Wisconsin are transitioning from labor intensive stall/stanchion style dairy systems to more modern milking systems and freestall cow housing dairy farms. These small farms (under 100 cows) need help to make the transition with farmstead master planning to minimize the capital investment and incrementally make changes to the system as they move to the future generation. Coordinated through the local UW Cooperative Extension county agricultural educator, these farms ask for assistance in planning the farmstead and design of the facilities for cow housing, milking system and feed and manure storage. Dr. David Kammel helps to support the county educator by traveling to counties in the entire state of Wisconsin to help them.
Outcomes
The dairies converting from a stall barn to modern milking systems reported an increased rate of milking and a decrease in time spent feeding. The cows also produced more milk in the modernized system and had overall better.
Focus Areas
Project Leader
David Kammel
Professor
- Department/Unit
- Biological Systems Engineering
- School or College
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences