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ROBOTIC rot MILKING Graham Smith and his mother Wilma are pictured here in front of some of the Holstein cattle which are now milked by robotics. When Leslie and Ruth Smith bought their farm on the 4th Con- cession of Brock in 1958, they probably never dreamed that one day, Wh cal a said feels ready to robots would be milking the cows. be mi lked, It steps into the Seven hundred people attended a recent open house at Teledale . . Farms to tour the spacious new barn, and view the operation of the machine — then is washed state-of-the-art robotic milking equipment. A . “There was a lot of interest,” says farm manager Graham Smith. and milked automatically. Ted Smith took over his parents’ farm, and now his son Graham, following in his dad’s footsteps, has assumed the majority of the when she’s at home. responsibility. It was Graham's “brainchild” to modernize the dairy Wilma Smith, who married Ted 35 years operation by installing a robotic milking system for the Holsteins. ago, says she has “the best job” on the farm Everyone has an important role. Lightheartedly calling himself — doing the bookkeeping and babysitting “a consultant,” Ted says that he “fills in and helps.” Graham and Holly’s one-year-old daughter Graham’s wife of three years, Holly, works off the farm as an Brynn. elementary school teacher, plus she has the official title of “go-fer” A large farming family has a lot of man- 40 FOCUS - OCTOBER 2014