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Volume 21, No. 10
“All dairy, all the time”™
July 13, 2019
A family’s A move towards full automation tragic loss
Thoennes fatally injured in bull attack By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
PARKERS PRAIRIE, Minn. – There is an eerie feeling accompanying the stillness on the Thoennes family farm. For the rst time in 50 years, the barn is sitting empty. “It just doesn’t seem right,” Charles Thoennes said. “The fans in the barn are off, there are no cows making noise; it’s just too quiet.” Charles sold his family’s dairy herd in June after his son, Craig, was found dead in the cow yard – having suffered fatal injuries from the 1,900-pound herd bull. The attack happened June 14 Craig Thoennes on the Thoenneses’ 65-cow farm in Douglas County near Parkers Prairie, Minn. Charles and Craig worked in partnership, with Charles owning the farm site and Craig owning the cattle and managing an additional 25 head of youngstock. Heartbroken, Charles recounted the day he found out his son had passed. He received a call from the Urbank Coop Creamery, of Urbank, Minn., at 11 a.m. June 15. The milk truck driver was concerned when he stopped at the dairy and saw the bulk tank was much lower than expected and the cows were bellowing. Charles’ brothers, Marvin and Gerald, were at the creamery at the time of the call, and went to the farm at the request of the milk truck driver. They discovered Craig lying near the barn, covered in blood and the herd bull roaming free. “[Marvin and Gerald] called 911,” Charles said. “We didn’t nd out until a couple of days later, but [Craig] had laid there the whole night. The cows hadn’t been milked Friday evening or Saturday morning.” Marvin was at the farm earlier in the day June 14. He helped Craig seed his alfalfa and left around 5:45 p.m. Turn to THOENNES | Page 7
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
The Reins – (from leŌ) Kim, Amber and Ben – milk 150 cows with two robots on their dairy near Lanesboro, Minn. The Reins recently hosted a tour June 23 for aƩendees at the Second InternaƟonal Precision Dairy Farming Conference to show the milking and feeding automaƟon on farm.
Reins install feeding system in path towards one-person-run farm By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
LANESBORO, Minn. – The Reins are on the path to their farm being fully automated.
“I built this so I can run (the farm) myself, and if it doesn’t, we better x it,” Ben Rein said. Rein and his family – wife, Amber, and their children, Steven, 21, Jaime, 18, Nora, 16, Kim, 14, and Rachel,
KRISTA KUZMA/DAIRY STAR
Tour aƩendees watch as the automaƟc feeding system dumps a batch of fresh feed in the freestall barn on the Reins’ dairy near Lanesboro, Minn.
10 – installed a Lely Vector automatic feeding system six months ago for their 150 cows on their farm near Lanesboro, Minn. The Reins use two robots to milk their herd and have plans to install an automatic calf feeder later this year. On June 23, a group from the Second International Precision Dairy Farming Conference toured the dairy. “Labor is the main part of it,” Rein said about why they are moving toward automation. To accommodate the new feeding system, the Reins built two silos along with two bulk bins. Each contains an ingredient of the milking cows’ ration: haylage and corn silage in each of the silos, and ne ground corn with fat in one bin with protein and mineral mix in the other bin. A long conveyer and portable mixing unit are housed in a building attached to the silos and bins, which is called the kitchen. Every hour, the mixing unit drives into the freestall barn to push up feed. Using a laser, it measures the height of the feed. Rein programmed the system to mix a ration if the feed is lower than 3 inches. The mixing unit will drive back to the kitchen, mix a batch of feed and Turn to REINS | Page 5