FRANKLIN COUNTY, Pa. — Robotic tech and cow comfort are not the first things you’d think about when visiting a dairy farm.
But after a fire destroyed their barn in 2019, the Brake family decided to embrace the future and rebuild with state-of-art technology and are using their technology to educate the next generation of farmers.
“We have needs for the next generation of employees,” said Charlene Espenshade, executive director of Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation.
Oakleigh Farm in Peters Township began using robots in 2020 and says their presence of drastically increased productivity.
“What we’ve seen is just overall improvement to animal health, better milk production, and even a little bit more sleep for us,” said Matt Brake, a cow handler and son of the owners of Oakleigh Farm.
Automatic milking machines, maneuver scrapers, and an automatic feeder named Gordon propelled the farm into the next generation by removing the need for additional labor.
The cows are fitted with a fit bit-like monitor that sends messages to Matt and other farm staff. This can help them monitor the health of their cows and alert them if something is wrong.
Oakleigh Farms will participate in several Remake Learning events throughout May 2023. Their fusion of agriculture and technology is just one of many events that are propelling learning from May 4–23 through an engaging itinerary from creators and organizations across the area.
“Students don’t realize that dairy farming has advanced so much and technology in the ‘ag’ industry [as a whole] has advanced so much in the last ten or fifteen years,” Brake said.
“Most kids don’t have a farm in their family so this is a way we can bring a farm to kids in the classroom,” Espenshade said.
Brake hopes the robots will show how the agriculture industry is more than just manual labor, specifically by showcasing the engineering aspect of farming through his robots.
“The robotic technology was a major role in that, and it was a great opportunity for us to step from a 1950s dairy to a true 21st dairy,” Brake said.
Today, agriculture continues to be the leading industry in Pennsylvania, now with the presence of robots, careers in the industry can only go up.