Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference – Automation on Today’s Dairy Farms
Program Description
This Extension program was part of the Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference Field Day. It brought together dairy producers, industry professionals and researchers to explore practical applications of automation on dairy farms including automated milking systems, calf feeding technologies and data integration across management platforms. The program combined expert presentations, producer real-life experiences, financial considerations for automation on farm and an on-farm tour of a farm that has embraced adopting automation.
Outcomes
Participants gained a clearer understanding of how automation affects labor, animal management, data usage and farm finances, allowing them to make more informed decisions about adopting and managing automated technologies on their own dairy operations or helping their customers with adopting technologies. Additional information regarding the using technology in agriculture was presented at the 2026 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from April 13-15.
Figure 1. Tour of feed center of Homestead Dairy that utilizes a stationary, automated mixer for pre-mixes prior to forages being added to another stationary mixer wagon. Contact information
Jackie Boerman, Ph.D. | jboerma@purdue.edu | 765-496-6290