Overview

In mid-november of 2013, the Wichman family moved its Holstein herd from a tie-stall barn to a state-of-the-art 240-cow freestall barn that features Lely Robots, LED based long-day lighting, floor heating, backup generators, and a surveillance system.
In describing the layout of the new barn, Brad Wichman said, "Some of the stalls are built for smaller animals, some are for larger, mature cows. There are two robots on each side of barn, and cows able to go to either robot on their side. We did that so if one robot goes down, the cows can still go through the other one."
Automation enhances the entire barn, from a robotic feed pusher that runs autonomously; to four robotic milkers that milk the cows on demand. Automatic waterers hydrate the cows, while the flow-ventilated barn keeps temperatures manageable. Alley scrapers clean the manure off of the floors, while automatic rotary brushes are the cows’ favourite new toys.
Wichman said most cows quickly adapted to the new system. "By the second night we had two cows going through the robots on their own, and things got better each day. Within a week most were going through on their own." Brad's father Mark noted they haven't had to cull any animals that wouldn't adapt to the system. "We started with 160 cows, so each robot had 40 cows, and they trained really fast," he said.
The LED-based high bay lighting constitutes the entirety of the long-day lighting program for the new barn, operating on a timer daily. This provides the recommended 15 foot-candles or better of illumination at cows’ eye level; consistently for 16-18 hours a day. Remarkably, the LED system uses a great deal less energy than traditional metal halide or fluorescent fixtures. (65-70% vs HID) More importantly, the LED system does not generate any waste energy from frequency modulation typical to traditional fixtures.
A sophisticated in-floor heating system keeps the robot areas warm. Designed by Greg Abts, Owner of Abts Bou-Matic LLC in New Franken, WI; the unique system uses waste heat from the milk to perform the task. A heat exchanger handles the first stage of cooling the milk, simultaneously dumping the heat off to the floor heating system. A diesel backup generator system is in place in case of emergencies, along with a surveillance system that provides remote visuals of the facility to the Wichman family.
Labor savings, increased production, longer cow life due to less stress, and greater ease of use are amongst the considerable benefits of the new facility, with a side benefit of making it easier to spot cows in heat.

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