A Franklin County family will showcase its new farm this weekend.
The Rainville family spent the past year rebuilding its farm in Fairfax. A fire destroyed their old barn and killed 35 cows, which was about half of their herd.
The centerpiece of the Rainville's new farm is a robotic milker. A centralized computer system milks the cows, sparing the farmer from milking them manually.
The Rainvilles say this will allow them to spend more time as a family and not miss out on life's important events. For large dairy farms, this could mean large savings when it comes to labor costs.
"Labor efficiency is something I don't think farmers talk about," Madonne Rainville says. "You have so many cows, you have to get them milked. You have to hire labor to do that. The robot takes care of that. The robot does all the milking, so you have more time to manage your cows more efficiently."
On Saturday the Rainvilles will hold an open house to show off the robotic milker. It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the farm on Swamp Road in Fairfax. All farmers and the public are invited.
Information from
http://www.wcax.com/
