They got milking machines/parlors. Problems is, a lot of them went down the corporate farm avenue where they milk around the clock.
The cows are nothing but a number and the mortality rate on those farms are extreme. It became the keeping up with the Jones thing a few years back. Since one decided to go big, the rest got jealous and had to do the same.
I was married to a farmers daughter from HG in Sheboygan co wisconsin. They milked 44 cows and I helped after my work. We knew each cow, how much they produced, and how much grist each should get. Now, they simply mixed the feed all together and feed dry as well as producing cows the same. The result is that the milk fever rate is high becasue dry cows should not, repeat should not, get producing cows rations.