Porteus Farms: Robotic cattle-feeding system saves time and labor, reduces fossil fuel

COSHOCTON − Many people believe farming is old-fashioned, but it can often be on the cutting edge of technology, even in rural Coshocton County.

LB Porteus Farms was recognized earlier this year with an Environmental Stewardship award from the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association and detailing projects improving facilities was the keynote speech by Amy Porteus at the recent annual Ag Day Celebration Luncheon at Lake Park. Amy leads the multi-generational family farm with her sister Beth Mullen and her family.

Recent upgrades have allowed them to go from 250 commercial Angus cows in a 50-year-old building to more than 700 in a new state of the art facility. About half of those are being fed for other owners.

Upgrades include a new aeration system to remove bacteria and reduce emissions and the Lely’s Robotic Vector feeding system that automatically feeds cattle. There are only about 15 such systems in the U.S. currently, with two in Coshocton County. The other is at Daugherty Farms in Fresno, which installed robotic milkers in 2020. The system was developed in Europe.

The new systems help to reduce fossil fuel usage, saves time and allows for more focus on the health and well-being of the cattle, Amy said. It was installed about 10 months ago and the Porteus Farm is part of a five-year study to gauge the efficiency increases. The new building is estimated to have a 40 year lifespan and the feeding system 15 to 20 years.

"We've lessen our labor needs. When we're full, we'll have about 900 head and we'll feed 900 head with the same amount of labor we were feeding 200 head in our old facility," Amy said.

Aeration system results in better fertilizer

Amy said the idea is to be forward looking on how feeding can be done with an eye to the bottom line of increasing profits. Big in the industry right now is a focus on emissions and carbon footprint related to the environment.

That's where the aeration system comes in. The floor of the cattle pens have slots with rubber mats overtop for comfort of the animals. Manure drops in an area below that's 10-feet deep. Seventy-two pipes run down underneath the floor and down the walls of the area, with what's called a duckbill on the end, which is a flat rubber piece.

A compressor blows air through the pipes and out the duckbill at three to four pounds of pressure per minute five to six times a day. Bubbling of air in a manure pit helps to balance out the aerobic from anaerobic bacteria.

In a standard manure pit, it's around 80% anaerobic and 20% aerobic. Aerobic bacteria takes the oxygen from the nitrates and converts it to ammonia. The bubbling of air is trying to make the manure more balanced at 50% of each type of bacteria, keeping more nitrogen in the manure and not coming off as a gas. This makes it a better fertilizer to be used on cropland.

"One of the things we wanted to do was have enough manure storage so we can apply it when we wanted to apply, when it was fit to apply and when we have to apply. We've got enough manure storage to make it 12 months, maybe 13 months based on our stocking densities," Amy said.

Feeding system reduces amount of labor needed

The main devices of the feeding system are a grabber and two mixers that double as robotic feeders. A computer terminal is used to make adjustments and monitor operations.

The scoop goes into different feed bins and picks up the proper amount as programed based on weight and percentage for the ration being made. If it doesn't have the right amount, it will release and try again up to five times before using what it has. It learns as it goes and is up to 98% accurate on weight.

As it picks up the feed, it weighs it based on milliamps of resistance, like most standard scales. A red laser is used to measure the height of feed left in the bin so the grabber knows how far down to go by three-dimensional profiling.

Feed is dropped into a mixer and mixed. It then moves on a designated path around the barn checking the feed floor. About a fifth of the cattle's food for the day is put out at a time.

As it traverses the area, the robotic feeder can detect how much feed is still left in each section and then determines if more feed needed. The feeders also uses sound waves to know how far it is from a pen fence and to avoid striking a wall.

After the feeder is finished, it plugs into a charging station. When the other mixer goes out to feed, the charging one takes its place.

"From a typical feeding situation, we're saving two to three hours a day. From the ability to manage what we want to do to increase feed efficiency, it's huge," Amy said. "We're at 25% of labor we would have been if we built a conventional type feeding floor."

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Porteus Farms' cutting-edge robotic cattle feeder improves efficiency