Lara González González, 24 years old, always wanted to be a rancher, as she says emphatically and with conviction. “I come from a ranching family. First my grandparents and then my parents. From a very young age I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to it, I always liked animals and working with them”, explains this young rural entrepreneur who, aware that she lives in the 21st century, decided to prepare first by studying Administration. “I was clear that I wanted to stay here and I studied, and I continue to do so with the recycling courses that are coming out, to keep up to date with all the paperwork involved in livestock farming, which is what my father likes least”. adds the young woman as she observes the movement of the cows in the paddock on one of her computer screens.
Alongside his father, Javier González, he heads a milk company with a total of 270 animals, of which 170 are being milked. Its facilities have mechanization systems that help to facilitate the work where both its three Laly robots and the computerization of the care, feeding and milking of the animals take center stage. Thus, Lara moves both around the ship, for the direct attention of the livestock, and in front of the two computers that control the animals.
“All the cows wear a collar that sends information to the robots and the computer. They are the ones that go to the robots to be milked throughout the day by means of a system of attraction with the feed. The robot knows when to milk them and when not to… At the same time, through the collar, all sorts of information arrives on my computer and mobile phone: a health report that tells you if they went down in they ruminate, if they have a fever, if they are in a hurry… In short, a lot of things”, explains this young cattle farmer, who carries all the cows on her mobile, as they say, 24 hours a day.
“Sometimes the robot stops, or all three, depending on the breakdown, and I get a warning on my mobile,” he adds while watching, on the computer screen, the animals eat, move or go towards the robots, in through the different cameras of the ship. “We produce around 7,200 liters of milk a day which we sell to Central Lechera Asturiana”, continues this professional.
“The cows adapted better in the first days to the facilities than we did, because it was a very big change, as was the investment to make this a reality. My father and I worked together. I don’t have the strength for the hardest jobs, but it is true that for the rest, as well as for work with the computer, I adapt better than him”, he explains, adding that even he has come running back in the middle of a night party after receiving an alert on his mobile phone to attend to a cow.
Coverage needs to be improved
As a young person living in the rural environment of this 21st century, she demands good internet coverage for herself and for everyone who wants to work in the field, whatever it may be. “Even if they wanted to, there are young and not-so-young people who cannot stay in the villages because, for example, they cannot telework, which is on the agenda for everything. They want people to stay, but you have to make it easy. Here the coverage is bad and where I live, because I have wifi and with the phone I’m getting by… And then there’s the matter of the paperwork, which is a lot… They should know that much of the time we have to spend on paper, we need it to take care of the animals”, he adds.