Stewards of the Land

Every day, new technology and evolving farm practices emerge to ensure the way farms operate today create a more sustainable future for generations to come. Leading the charge to a more sustainable future are dairy farm families like the Colliers of Snyder, Texas, who prioritize investing in the buildings, equipment and people on their farm with efficiency and the future in mind.

Growing up on his father’s and grandpa’s dairy farm, T&K Dairy, Will Collier saw an opportunity to carry on the family legacy while making the farm his own. In 2008, Will and his wife, Lauren, purchased the dairy from his father, growing their herd from 60 cows to 3,300, with a mix of Holsteins, Jerseys and crossbreds. In addition to milking cows, the Colliers grow cotton, corn, sorghum and wheat on 7,500 acres and have a few hundred Angus cows and show pigs, too.

A focus on efficiency and sustainability guided their farm’s growth.

“Each piece of our operation works together,” Will says. “We grow feed for the cows and convert their waste into fertilizer for the crops. We use recycled water from our lagoon to flush and clean the concrete lanes in the robot barn, and then use the same water on our fields to help fertilize the crops.” 

Trying something new 

For the Colliers, environmental stewardship and technology go hand in hand. In July 2016, Will and Lauren implemented smart collars for their cows. These wearable collars provide insights into everything from rumination — how cows digest their food through cudchewing — to reproduction. Used to help better manage the herd’s health and productivity, the collars are like smart watches we wear to track daily activity and health.

“When I took over in 2008, everything was still pretty basic and on paper,” Will says. “We had a computer program that stored information on all the cows. And then, over time, we got scanners and tags to identify the cows and speed up our processes. We kept seeing technology move fast and decided to find other opportunities to take advantage of technology to help increase our efficiency of the dairy operation.”

After seeing the positive results from the collars, Will and Lauren began looking into a robotic barn to continue improving efficiency and production.

In 2019, T&K Dairy became the first farm in the Southwest to build and install an 18-box robot barn, where a robot arm milks the cows instead of human milkers. While the Colliers still utilize a fully functional traditional barn to milk approximately 1,900 cows each day, the robot barn, which milks 1,100 cows each day, has greatly improved milk production on the farm and helps mitigate the decrease in available labor.

Conserving valuable resources

It didn’t take long for the cows to adjust to the robot barn, partially due to the incentive awaiting them in each milking stall — their favorite pellets — which taste like candy to the cows. The system overall is self-paced and low stress for the cows, which enhances productivity.

“Our cows are our livelihood. The better we take care of our cows, the better return we get out of them,” Lauren says. “We hire a nutritionist to come twice a month to balance their food ration to maintain health and proper condition. We trim their feet annually, or as needed, so they can walk properly and comfortably. They have fans in the summertime to keep them cool and have back- scratching brushes to utilize when needed.”

Not only are the cows happier in the robot barn, but the technology in the barn has changed the game from an efficiency standpoint. The Colliers utilize LED lighting throughout the barn that turns off between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. to allow the cows a restful night’s sleep. The fans are temperature-controlled and only turn on in stages when needed to conserve energy. While cooling their milk, a whirl chiller captures hot water off the compressor, which is then used to clean the pipelines and milking machines, reducing gasoline costs and conserving water.

Caring for the land 

Aside from taking great care of their herd, the Colliers recognize their responsibility to care for the land, air and water on their farm so that the next generation is set up for success. In addition to water recycling, T&K Dairy keeps detailed records of any chemicals or fertilizers applied to the land. Annually, soil samples are taken to monitor nutrient values in the soil.

As parents of three children, Will and Lauren know adopting sustainable farming practices and investing in technology to become more efficient will provide a better baseline should their children want to continue the dairy’s legacy someday. 

“Our land has been in our family for several generations, and we hope to continue that for generations to come,” Will says. 

The opportunity to dairy, and to do it well, is not one the Colliers take lightly. With priorities of herd health, farm efficiency and land stewardship, Will and Lauren are creating a bright future for T&K Dairy and for the future of dairy as a whole.