World Dairy Expo will showcase innovation through virtual farm tours

The annual Virtual Farm Tour series at World Dairy Expo will connect visitors in Madison with dairy operations in three states: Washington, Michigan and Texas. The tours are designed to let attendees examine farms remotely from the Alliant Energy Center, the venue for the event.

One of the featured operations is Rancho Pepper Dairy in Dublin, Texas. The farm changed to organic production in 2006 and now manages 4,400 acres of pasture.

Rancho Pepper Dairy also operates North America’s first DeLaval VMS batch-robotic milking facility. The installation is part of the farm’s use of automated milking technology alongside its pasture-based production system.

The Texas dairy combines several elements in its production approach. These include advanced genetics, regenerative grazing practices and solar power generated on the farm.

According to the supplied description, those practices and technologies are used in support of milk production, sustainability and cow comfort. The Virtual Farm Tour series will place this operation alongside farms from Washington and Michigan in the expo’s programme.