AMENIA — Amid unanimous favorable reports from the herd, Coon Brothers dairy farm in Amenia held an open barn on Sunday, Dec. 1, inviting contractors and friends to visit the cows and see their new automatic milking system that has brought robotics to the modern dairy industry.
Coon Brothers has used GEA equipment for milking over the years, so co-owners Peter and Amos Coon indicated that GEA Dairy Robot equipment was chosen to automate their operation, requiring a long period of construction.
The preceding year had been given to renovating the barns in preparation for installation of the robotic equipment that began in the spring and continued into July. Six robotic milking stations have been installed and all are now kept busy throughout the day.
Fully automated milking systems have been installed at Coon Brothers Farm in Amenia. Computers at each milking station monitor quantity and quality. Visitors were invited to an open barn tour on Sunday, Dec. 1, to see the new systems at work.Photo by Leila Hawken
Each cow decides for herself when to go in for milking, the decision prompted by discomfort. Observation showed that the cows placidly await their turns without disagreements or jostling for position.
“The difference is the cow’s comfort,” Amos explained. “Now they are getting milked when they want to,” he added.
The farm has a population of 600 animals with 350 milk cows, including Guernseys and Holsteins, divided between two barns, Peter Coon said.
“The system is better for the cows and it will save labor,” said Coon. “and the cows seem to like it.”
The computerized system monitors each cow, recognizing individuals by a computer chip attached to the cow’s collar. During each milking session, the cow’s milk production and quality of the milk are instantly measured and tested, with any problems detected and dealt with.
The system isolates and collects data from each quarter of the cow’s udder.
Cows residing in the milking barn are there all the time, Amos Coon said. “The new system has changed how we do everything.”
In the barn the cows munch on molasses flavored silage but get a treat in the milking stall in the form of custom grain.
Milk output is measured in pounds, not gallons. One cow can produce 20 pounds of milk in a single milking session, Amos explained. They go for milking more than once a day; some cows may give as much as 140 pounds of milk in a single day. Genetics contribute to a top-producing cow, Amos said.
A cow that has recently calved gives more milk, with increased production lasting 50-200 days. A newborn calf will only suckle for 12 hours before being shifted to manual feeding of bovine colostrum which is separated from the cow’s milk production by the robotic system.
In the event of a power outage, a generator keeps the systems going.
A large 6,000 gallon milk collection tank holds the milk until a tanker truck takes it away.
Robotic milking is not new to the area. Freund’s Farm in East Canaan has also installed automated milking with good results.
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Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.
MASS MoCA is known for its 20th-century holdings spread throughout a sprawling complex of industrial brick buildings. Installations by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell have permanent homes there. Just down the road in Williamstown, the Clark features masterworks by Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet.
But what visitors might not immediately associate with those established names is how deeply both institutions invest in art happening right now.
On Saturday afternoon, a panel of young artists discussed their relationships with art, identity and technology as part of MASS MoCA’s “Technologies of Relation” exhibition, which opened that evening. The artists represented a broad range of cultural backgrounds, drawing on ancestry while exploring the future of art and technology.
The work itself ran the gamut: wax relief paintings, stained glass, interactive video and sculptural installations. One immersive piece automated the traditional Armenian practice of reading fortunes from coffee grounds. Particularly striking were Roopa Vasudevan’s hand-drawn QR codes and Taeyoon Choi’s large-scale weavings of binary code.
Opening the same night was Zora J. Murff’s “RACE/HUSTLE.” Through photographs, paintings and installations, Murff explores the wide-ranging and sometimes violent implications of being Black in America today. Each piece — whether confronting the rise of white supremacy or examining stereotypes imposed on Black communities — carries razor-sharp visual commentary designed to unsettle.
Pelenakeke Brown’s “Reverb” (detail) at Mass MoCA. D.H. Callahan
On Sunday, the Clark continued the contemporary thread. A small exhibition of work by Raffaella della Olga, titled “Typescript,” features intricate patterns created using a typewriter on varied paper surfaces. The effect seems almost impossible until viewers watch a video of della Olga loading her typewriter with 140-grit sandpaper and typing in a hypnotic rhythm. Though the typewriter is considered obsolete technology, she continues to find new applications for it, completing some of the works in recent months.
Next door in the Clark auditorium, HUB New Music performed works written specifically for its unusual instrumentation: violin, cello, clarinet and flute. While that combination may not stand out to casual listeners, relatively little classical repertoire exists for it. The ensemble regularly commissions composers to expand the possibilities.
The results were striking. From the opening notes of Francisco del Pino’s “Passacaglia,” the quartet’s command and layered repetition pulled unexpected emotion from the audience.
After three pieces came the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s “Mirage,” a roughly 25-minute work accompanied by digital blips, static and electronic textures evoking radio transmissions and UFO lore. Hearing four virtuoso musicians extract entirely new sounds from traditional instruments echoed the weekend’s larger theme: old tools made new again.
Like della Olga’s typewriter, Vasudevan’s QR codes or Murff’s charged imagery, the performances demonstrated that contemporary art often grows from familiar materials — reimagined.
The old masters will always draw visitors to these institutions. But when living artists command equal attention, this quiet corner of the Berkshires feels less like the middle of nowhere and more like a creative epicenter.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his artist wife in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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