The Future of Farming
In the Bulkley Valley, not many farmers can say that their cows milk themselves. But in the case of Dan, Rudy and Nathan Vandenberg, their cows do just that. This past September, the farm’s milking system switched to artificial intelligence (AI), becoming the first in northern B.C. Before, all milking was done in-person, a time-consuming activity that meant the cows had to be rounded up and herded to the barn before they could be milked. As Dan Vandenberg says, under this system, the farmers “pretty much lived there.” That is no longer the case.