Farming in Drangan, Co. Tipperary is husband-and-wife team Donal and Olive Maher, along with their son, Fiachra, who as a family milk 230 cows using three robots.
The Mahers made the move to robotic milking back in 2020, with this October marking their two year anniversary since making the change.
Since taking over the farm in 1997, Donal started out with what his father had built up and when taking over, was milking 17 cows in a four-unit plant.
Fast forward to 2020 and the Mahers were milking 170 cows in a 24-unit parlour; however, at this stage, Donal wanted to look at other ways of milking his cows as milking in the parlour was becoming time consuming.
Speaking to Agriland on his farm during the week, Donal said: “I took over the running of the farm at a young age when my father got a stroke.
“We were milking in a four-unit plant and from there I actually got big into beef cattle for a few years, before the dairy took centre stage again.
“It got to a stage where we had built up the herd to 170 cows and was milking in good facilities, but I felt it was time to change direction after years milking in a parlour.
“Labour and time were two big issues with the parlour. It was hard to stay out of the parlour because even though we’d have people working for us, a lot of my time was still being taken up in the pit.
“Not just that, four-to-five hours of the day would be spent in the parlour which cut down on time to get other jobs done on the farm.
“I thought about it one day and said to myself, do I want this future for me and then for Fiachra if he wants to carry on after me? The answer was no, and I wanted to have it in a way that I was in control of the farm rather the farm in control of me, which is what it felt like.”
Robots over a rotary
Choosing to switch to robots for milking was Donal’s first instinct.
In fact, he had thought about installing a rotary parlour and even spent time milking on a farm that had a rotary to get a feel for it and see what his day could possibly involve milking in one.
However at the cow numbers they felt they could push too, it didn’t justify a rotary but even at that, the Mahers weren’t sure it was the right move for them at the time.
So, the other option to look at was robots and, having visited other robotic farms, the Mahers felt they had the potential to really push the farm to another level by going down the robotic route.
Installing three robots
DeLaval, who Donal sourced the robots from, said that the number of cows on the farm (170) was an ideal starting point to get up running.
However, the Mahers had 60 in-calf heifers coming along that they planned to calve down onto the robots, which they ended up doing, taking the number of cows up to 230.
Donal said: “We went with DeLaval for the robots, a local dealer Pat Moore who we sourced the robots from, installed them and has been servicing them since we started up.
“I had spoken with DeLaval and told them we had 170 cows and the plan was to go with three robots and they were saying how it was a great number to start off with.
“However, we had it in our head to calve down the 60 in-calf heifers onto the robot along with the 170-cows which in reality, ended up being a bit less when culls are taken out.
“But up to recently we have had over 230 cows milking across the three robots which works out at roughly just over 75 cows and it hasn’t been an issue whatsoever – to the surprise of many.
“Free time on the robot at the number of cows we have is still at 40% and at peak is about 28%, which is very good, so we’d still be thinking that we could push numbers even a bit more.”
This year cows are averaging 2.1 milkings and to keep the robots running smoothly, the Mahers get each robot serviced three times rather than two, which costs approximately €4,500 in total for the year.
Keeping on cows milking well
Although operating a spring-calving system, Donal said that cashflow through milk production has not only increased through extra cow numbers, but by also being able to milk through the winter.
Donal said: “Before, in the parlour, you’d be rushing to get cows dried off so that they would have that break before calving, and even for myself to have a break from milking.
“Now, that isn’t a worry anymore. If a cow is milking away she’ll be left do what she does even if it means a shorter dry period for her of six weeks.
“Also, I’m not worried about a cow calving in April or May,” he said.
“Why? Because she’ll milk away the finest over the winter and it’s of no extra cost because the cow is lying beside the robots in the cubicles in the winter and a robot that is not on and working makes no sense to me,” he explained.
“Because of the robots, we have been able to increase and prolong production which means continuous cashflow throughout the year, and with milk prices the way they are, it makes so much sense to do.”
‘Information is great but the slurry is even better’
The Mahers installed three VMS V31O robots. The difference between the V300 and V310 robots is that the V310 comes with the RePro feature.
The RePro feature is a reproduction management tool. It helps to provide a picture of each animal’s reproductive status using progesterone levels which are taken automatically in milk samples, DeLaval said.
Donal said that the feature has worked very well, giving you a timeframe of when your cows are due to calve, and that the information you get across the board on each cow gives you all the tools you need to run an efficient and productive system.
He said: “The really big pluses we have got from the robots is the reduction in labour and the efficiency of how we can use slurry generated, as well as the information that you get on each individual cow.
“The parlour took up so much time during the day and left other jobs on the long finger because of it.
“Although we don’t see the cows twice a day up close like we would in the parlour, I still do everything with them like AI [artificial insemination], dosing, and clipping tails etc. which I wouldn’t have had as much time to do or would have been rushing to do when I was milking in the parlour.
“The robots have given us so much more time to focus on our grassland management, something we wouldn’t have been really focused hugely on.
“Another plus with the robots is any cows scanned empty are milked on and we gain 15-20L of milk a day from those cows while they are being fattened for eventual culling in April and May the following year.
“But one of the real big wins for us has been the slurry generated and the use that we have been able to make of it.
“We have the capacity to hold six million litres of slurry across the farm. In order to have the slurry available when we want it, we installed a slurry aeration system we sourced from Dairypower.
“With the ABC grazing system we can get slurry and fertiliser on grazed ground the minute cows leave because they aren’t going back to it over it after milking.
“With the aeration system, which is only costing us about €1/day, we can take out a load of slurry – which we believe is worth 18 units of nitrogen to us – and get it out and get that field back into the system as quickly as possible again.
“The nitrogen from the slurry cuts back on our artificial fertiliser we need hugely.”
Building work needed
In order to accommodate three robots and an increase in cow numbers, a substantial amount of building work had to be carried out.
An area, beside the old parlour which is only separated by an existing crush, is where the robots take up residency.
The most impressive building work carried out is the slatted exit races from the robots (below) which are finished with a lovely tile finish along the sides and a lacquer finish on top.
Cows are generally diverted one of two ways. If cows are diverted right of the robots, it will lead them into a holding area where the existing crush is.
While in the other direction they can be diverted through one of two gates, either straight back down the passageway down to the grazeway gates or through a footbath down to the grazeway gates.
This area where the robots are is part of what was an existing shed on the farm which spans 10 bays. However, before cows can reach the robots they have to make their way down through the new 220 cubicles which consist of 15 bays.
The entire length of the shed, which accommodates the 220 cubicles and robots, spans 25 bays.
The height of the shed had to be increased in order for the Mahers to incorporate an upstairs area beside the robot which includes an office, electrical room and gantry.
The majority of the shed consists of the new cubicles which take up the middle section of the shed.
On either side of the cubicles are two passageways. One has headlocking feeding barriers going the entire length of it, which can feed up to 150 cattle at one time.
The other is primarily used as the exit pathway for cows once they are milked as it brings them down to the sorting gates located at the other end of the shed.
In this area, the Mahers installed two DeLaval swinging cow brushes as well, with Donal mentioning how clean the cows are keeping.
As an ABC grazing system is in place, once cows come to the end of the passageway in the shed after milking they exit through the sorting gates to one of three ‘mini grazing platforms’.
The Mahers went with the DeLaval smart selection gates, a decision Donal said has really paid off.
He said: “With the smart selection gates, it means cows that are due to milk get milked and prevents a build up of cows that aren’t due for milking coming into the robots.
“You’ll have chancers who know they aren’t due in for milking and they can come within a few metres of the robot before they come to the drafting gate (below), where if they are due in for milk, they will be diverted into the holding area into the robots or back down the side passageway back out the sorting gates out to grass again.”
Opening up ‘A’ block with an underpass
Construction didn’t end with the shed, with the Mahers having to install an underpass to open up access to grazing block A across the road from the main yard. The underpass measures 4m wide and 2m high.
‘Delighted with the change’
The concrete for the build was sourced from Gleeson Quaries. The slats were purchased from Corbeett Slats.
Loughryan Engineering erected the shed. All the gates, cubicles, mats, headlocking barriers and troughs were sourced from Teemore Engineering.
Donal’s brother Michael did the electrical work. Con Mullane set up the feeding system for the robots, while a 35t meal bin was sourced from V-MAC.
Donal said that the move to robotic milking was the best move for him, his family and the farm.
He said: “We have been able to take the farm to another level by increasing cow numbers, which has led to an increase in production and a decrease in input costs.
“In a year where input costs have soared on farms, I’d have to disagree, as it has been the opposite for us.
“We have never used as little artificial fertiliser and that is down to the chain of events that take place on the farm due to moving to robots like I mentioned.
“Overall, we are delighted with the change and wouldn’t look back at all.”
