‘Milking robot allows every single cow perform to full potential’

Robotic milking convert Aidan Deasy says the main benefits to his operation are the level of information and that it allows every cow perform to their best.

The Cork farmer is hosting an open day on his farm on July 16, and says he can easily see the performance of my herd and get every single cow to perform to her full potential.

Aidan is currently milking 144 cows with two Lely Astronaut A4’s with the herd averaging 7,000L. Milk solids are 2.16kg/day on 3.5kg of meal on average. Cows are grazing full time on an A,B,C system. SCC is running at 140,000 and TBC is 2.

Optimum profit through technology

“I absolutely loved milking cows but find the information I get about my herd from Lely’s T4C  (time for cows) management program is way ahead of what I had when milking cows in the parlour.

“All the information is live so I can react to any changes in my herd’s performance immediately and keep the herd performing to its maximum potential. The Lely Astronaut has feed to yield as standard and I find this invaluable especially with the high yielding cows and heifers.”

With Aidan on target to reach 1,000,000L of milk sold this year and feeding 1t of meal on average, targeting specific cows is a must. “There is too much wastage in batch feeding. Information is everything when you are trying to run things efficiently,” he says.

Labour saving

Aidan runs the farm with the help of his herdsman John and the aim is that both work a 40-hour week.

“When I am away from the farm I can see exactly what is going on with my cows on my smart phone.

“The heat detection tool is especially useful. It informs me when the cows are in heat, I can then collect them at the optimum time for insemination. The robots eliminate human error and they will not make a mistake unless I program them to do so.”

Grazing

“I operate an A B &C grazing system. The cows travel naturally to the Lely Astronaut A4 milking robot  and graze out paddocks very well. They are milked 2.2 times / day and I could not be happier. By allocating fresh grass every eight hours, I feel I am utilising my grass much better and to be fair the milk tank reflects this.”

Installation and service

Installation, he says, was pretty smooth as we put the cows through the robot in groups for three days and they left them work away by themselves after that.

“I would say the whole system was running smoothly within two weeks. Back up service is top class, always with Lely on call day or night.

“The principle of robotic milking is no different to automatic scraping of a cubicle shed, once you go down the route of automation there is no looking back. Bottom line it’s about having a better working environment that is profitable.”