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Technology improvements boost milk quality on Illinois dairy

The addition of a rotary milking parlor and free stall barn upgrades have helped improve efficiency and milk quality on a dairy in Nashville, Illinois.

Fifth generation farmer Nick Harre tells Brownfield the technological advancements have allowed them to expand their herd to 500 cows while decreasing the amount of labor they need to milk them.

“That then frees us up to do other things on the farm, so we’re able to start shelling corn or chopping corn silage earlier in the day than what we were used to.”

He says in the year and a half the new system has been in place, somatic cell counts have shown an improvement in milk quality.

“We added a new flush system in the barn, a new style of mat that we have placed under the sand and a new ventilation system. The rotary parlor system allows the cows to spend more time in the free stall barn and less time in the holding pen waiting to be milked.  So, overall greater cow cleanliness has translated into healthier cows and higher quality milk.”

Harre’s family farm is the location of the 2023 Illinois Dairy Tech Tour hosted by the Illinois Milk Producers Association and University of Illinois Extension. Harre says they toured several dairies before remodeling their operation and hopes the tour helps other dairymen make technological decisions to improve their operations.