Hinchley's Robot Dairy & DCC Waterbeds

As Anna Hinchley pursued a degree in dairy science from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, she and her parents, Tina and Duane, began planning for her return to their Cambridge, Wisconsin dairy farm.  With aging facilities, the Hinchley’s knew they needed to invest in a facility and they decided robots were the right choice to help them reach their future goals.  In 2018 they built a new robot barn and in 2020 Anna returned to the farm full-time after graduating from UW—Madison.

The Hinchley’s did extensive research on all of the bedding options available to them and Tina said, “When we choose to go with the DCC Waterbeds, we looked at sand and other mattresses we chose because of cow comfort and less hock abrasions.”

Tina explained that cows are on a double chamber waterbed, so when the cow enters the stall she goes down on her knees first in the front pillow, and “they snuggle right in.”

A further benefit to the cows is that when they are laying they are “cradled in the comfort of the waterbed,” Tina added.

As the next generation dairywoman, Anna played a key role in researching all options.  The family toured many facilities and decided that DCC Waterbeds were the best choice for their slatted-floor barn.

With robots, Anna explains, “sometimes the cows don’t want to get up and get milked so they end up leaking on their beds.  With waterbed mattresses are so nice because it’s got the water pressure [near her udder] so all the leaky milk will slide down into the crack and filters right down on the and into the pit.”

Anna distinguishes the waterbed from a mattress because with a regular mattress “at best [the milk] just sits there, but as the mattresses get older they get a divot in them and the milk collects and that spreads mastitis.”

An additional benefit of the milk running off the DCC Waterbed is that it’s “easy clean up, less mastitis and cows are happier,” Anna said.

“The cows on our farm spend a portion of their day eating, getting milked, and the rest of their day they are spent relaxing in pure joy and comfort on their DCC Waterbeds,” Tina said.

“The cows love them, and we love them, too,” Tina Hinchley says of her DCC Waterbeds.

You can visit Hinchley’s at Dane County’s Breakfast on the Farm on Saturday, August 21 from 7-11:30am.

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Thank you Tina & Anna for taking time to talk to us about your experience with DCCW and show us around your beautiful barn!