Fifth-generation farmer Melissa Griffin’s life is anything but traditional.

She operates Clessons River Farm in Buckland with her husband, Adam Griffin. She is also a classical trumpet player who studied trumpet performance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Pennsylvania State University.

Her family’s farm, the only remaining dairy farm in Buckland, is also incorporating cutting-edge technology that sets them apart.

In the summer of 2020, Clessons River Farm installed a robotic milking system made by Dutch company Lely, which Adam Griffin also works for. The farm is also in the process of installing another robot that Melissa described as a “big Roomba” to pick up the manure from the barn.

In 2021, Clessons River Farm received a Farm Viability Enhancement Program grant, worth $150,000, from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. The program enabled them to complete a farm business plan and build a dairy barn addition to increase milk yield and expand capacity for the cows. In return, a 15-year agricultural covenant on the property helps ensure it remains in agricultural use.

According to Melissa, the grant covered expanding the barn, a new mixer wagon and the robot manure collector.

Before the Lely robot, Melissa’s father was getting up at 3:30 a.m. to milk the cows. Adam said an incentive to install the robot was the lifestyle benefit that came with not having to wake up that early to milk the cows.

Another benefit to the robot: freedom.

“We let the cows be cows,” Adam said. “Cows spend most of their day laying down. So the more hours of the day that a cow is laying down in her stall that’s going to be a benefit to them both from a health standpoint and a milk production standpoint.”

And with the robot that picks up manure, it’s even less likely that the Griffins will be in the barn, “disrupting their day,” Adam said.

With the Lely robot, the Griffins saw a 15-pound-per-animal-a-day increase in milk production. The farm produces about 4,500 pounds of milk each day, which is supplied to Agri-Mark.

The Griffins have overall seen an increase in milk production and cow health because of the robot.

“We always pride ourselves on having healthy, productive cows, but we’ve seen them even better. Our production as a herd has gone up since the robot,” Adam said. “Our ability to get more work done in the field has been greatly complemented by the robot system for the cows.”

A plus is that the automation helps Melissa spend more time playing music.

“I also play trumpet. And so the idea was that I would have a little bit more flexibility to be able to do some of that as well,” she said.

A few years ago, Clessons River Farm got virtual attention when Melissa went viral for combining her two passions: dairy farming and trumpet performance.

In a video that got more than 3.7 million views on YouTube, Melissa played “What a Wonderful World” on the trumpet for her cows.

“Cows are very curious,” Melissa said.

Even though Melissa is a dairy farmer, she still practices the trumpet a few days a week and plays in the Pioneer Valley Symphony and the Shelburne Falls Military Band.

Melissa said she got burnt out playing the trumpet, so she decided not to pursue it professionally. But in the end, she was able to pursue both of her passions.

“It’s worked out pretty well,” Melissa said, “to be able to do a little bit of trumpet playing and be here on the farm.”

Mara Mellits writes for the Greenfield Recorder through the Boston University Statehouse Program.