You can see robots milking contented cows as part of a Lincoln County Dairy Farm tour set for Saturday.
Tour coordinator Laurie Groskopf says the tour is sponsored by the Lincoln County Farm Bureau. She says the public will see two featured dairy farms..
"...These are two very innovative dairy farms. One is the Hans Breitenmoser farm. They've installed solar power generation on their barn. It's a very fascinating process. These would be considered large-size farms for Lincoln county, but not large farms in the general scheme of things..."
The second farm has modern technology...
"The second farm is the Juedes farm. This is the first farm to install a fully robotic milking system and it's just fascinating..."
Laurie Groskopf says the cows seem to like the automation...
"...When I was able to view the system, it was just amazing how relaxed those cows are and how relaxed the farmer is. It's a brand new day in dairy farming. This is the first of it's kind(in Lincoln county) and I think people will really enjoy seeing this and learn a lot about what dairy is going to look like in the future..."
Free snacks related to dairy will be available at the stops. The tour is for older children and adults.
Tickets need to be purchased in advance at River Valley Bank in Merrill or Tomahawk.
The tour is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. More information is available by calling Groskopf at 715-453-6301.
