OSHKOSH, Wis. – Rural Omro dairy farmer Pete Knigge ventured a bit into the unknown when he purchased the nation's first robotic milking system for his herd of cows 10 years ago.
He liked it so much that Knigge and his son, Charlie, recently upgraded to the newest version of robotic milking manufactured by Lely USA, which is headquartered in Pella, Iowa.
Globally, there are an nearly 10,000 Lely-manufactured robotic milking systems. Robotics has been a popular way to milk cows in Europe for nearly 20 years.
However robotic milkers, which milk each cow without the touch of a human, haven't caught on with abandon in Wisconsin. Knigge estimated about 40 dairy operations in the state have a robotic milking system.
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