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Business 14. Green Biz | 16. Q&A Rogue Creamery Goes High Tech Sustainable, humane and, oh yeah, robotic WRITTEN BY LEE LEWIS HUSK MATILDA AND CHARLIE get right down to business when a cow presents herself for milking. With precise movements and unerring aim, they latch onto the teats and gently extract the essential ingredient for making the famed artisanal cheeses of Rogue Creamery. And they do it with udder indifference—because they’re robots, a technology just making its way into Oregon dairy farms. 14 | WINTER <strong>2018</strong> ontrakmag.com
Rogue Creamery’s cows have 58 acres to roam. Rogue Creamery’s technology and sustainable agricultural practices, along with a contented herd of milk producers, innovative cheesemakers and visionary leadership, have resulted in a product sought after by cheese lovers around the world. The dairy near Grants Pass is among the early adopters of robotics, according to Pete Kent, executive director of the Oregon Dairy and Nutrition Council. Despite the heavy startup expense (each robot costs about $300,000), the robots’ high-tech instruments give farmers instant data on such factors as the cow’s health, quality of milk and frequency of milking. The automation also frees up farmworkers to spend less time milking and more time caring for the herd and advancing sustainable practices. Kent said dairy farms that employ robotic milkers have seen improvements in cow comfort and the quality of milk, as well as a decrease in the incidence of disease. “David Gremmels is not afraid to explore technology in his quest to become a sustainable operation from pasture to cow care to the processing of milk,” Kent added, referring to the president of Rogue Creamery. Rogue Creamery is one of only three Oregon dairies that owns and controls its own milk supply for processing into cheese or other milk products. The other two are Lochmead Farms in Junction City and TMK Farm in Canby. It’s an advantage more easily accomplished in small operations. On a recent visit, Craig Nelson picked up a handful of undigested plant material from a large heap, explaining it had been separated from cow manure, heated twice and then reclaimed for cow bedding. Despite the yuck factor, this is part of the dairy’s sustainable practices to produce high-quality, organic milk and cheese. The 120 cows in the lactating herd have free rein of 58 acres of USDA-certified organic pasture, where humans pull weeds by hand. When the weather turns hot or cold, the cows can enter what the dairy calls “the cow cathedral.” In simple terms, it’s a barn. The cows decide when they want to eat, drink, rest or be milked without forced enclosures or schedules. The dairy’s designers incorporated advanced engineering systems during barn construction to keep the place cool and reduce odors (despite the gas emissions and other biologic processes that occur under its roof). Inside, it’s eerily quiet—no mooing. The dairy council’s Kent points out that all Oregon dairies are quiet, a reflection of the overall quality of care animals receive in the state. “A stressed animal is not going to produce either the volume or quality of milk,” he said, adding that milk from Oregon dairies is among the best in the country. “A happy cow is a quiet cow,” Nelson quipped. When You Go Visitors are welcome at the dairy, 7 miles west of Grants Pass, where they can see Charlie and Matilda extracting the milk that eventually ends up in tasty grilled cheese sandwiches served on site at the farm stand. For information on hours and guided tours, go to roguecreamery.com. ontrakmag.com WINTER <strong>2018</strong> | 15
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