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Robots at Risky Endeavor serve as essential employees

A farmer says upgrading technology was a requirement to overcome labor challenges on her 250-cow dairy. 

“It was either robots or quit farming.”

Janet Tolan owns and operates Risky Endeavor Dairy with her family in northern Michigan.

“We have a lot of industry so finding labor, keeping labor, and trying to stretch the family as far as we could to fill in the gaps, it was decided let’s go with robots,” she says.

In 2019, she tells Brownfield the family abandoned their less than 15 fifteen-year-old double-twelve milking parlor for five robots.

“It reduced the amount of employees we needed, right now we have three full-time employees in addition to the family,” she explains.

The fifth-generation farm will highlight the technology during this year’s Michigan State University Breakfast on the Farm event on Saturday.

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