[Podcast] Anna Hinchley: Designing her own robot barn [PROGRESSIVE DAIRY]

From Progressive Publishing

PROGRESSIVE DAIRY published August 4, 2020

In this episode, we hear from 22-year-old dairy farmer Anna Hinchley. Her desire to return to her family’s dairy in Cambridge, Wisconsin, after graduating prompted her parents to move forward with expanding the herd and upgrading to automated milking. Anna has been involved in every step of the barn design process. Hear about the key features of her robot barn here.

I’m here today with Anna Hinchley at Hinchley’s Dairy Farm near Cambridge, Wisconsin. 

Anna is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she has now returned to the farm to officially begin her career as a dairy farmer. 

But she won’t be milking 140 cows in a 7-cow tie-stall barn like the days of her youth. The Hinchleys constructed an automated milking facility last year with four robots to handle around 240 milking cows. 

Anna was very involved in the design and layout of the facility that she now works in every day.

She is going to give us a deep-dive into the details of this barn design and how it not only leverages efficiency and technology, but also lends to the Hinchley’s long-time agritourism business.

With that, let’s hear from Anna.