Dairy farms are getting bigger and bigger. In the ‘90s, a fifth of the U.S. dairy herd was on farms with more than a thousand cows. Now it’s two out of every three cows.

But one family in Wausau is proving small dairy farms are still viable, and spreading the word on social media.

Dairy Farmer Aaron Ninnemann’s TikTok following is growing, including a video with more than four million views. It all started when he was looking to modernize the farm a few years ago, but couldn’t find anything for small dairies like his.

“The reason I started putting it all on TikTok was to give other small farmers, 60, 120, 180 cow guys, an option where you can do something like this without spending millions of dollars,” said Ninnemann.

Ninnemann Enterprises, Inc in Wausau retrofitted a barn with using Lely milking robots, an investment that is paying off. Andhe robots don’t end there. Aaron uses another Lely machine pushing feed closer to the cows. He calls it a “Moomba” since it moves like a Roomba.

“So, every hour on the hour it runs through, to get rid of the task of going through four times a day with a broom or something like that. So, it keeps the feed close to the cows so they can continue eating,” said Ninnemann.

Proving that through technology small dairy farms aren’t going anywhere.

“It just makes it nice for a family farm that everything can get done in a timely fashion and yet it’s profitable enough to keep on going,” said Ninnemann.

Follow Ninnemann on TikTok: @ninny1083

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