Is robotic milking the best option for your farm?

Lely Center Mullingar, in conjunction with AIB Bank, is inviting all dairy, beef, sheep and tillage farmers to attend its information seminars.

These seminars are being held on three spring-calving farms (situated in Meath, Offaly and Mayo), all of whom have converted to dairy and are successfully milking 120 to 220 cows with Lely milking robots.

With the uncertainty in the beef and tillage sectors and falling product prices, there is huge interest and uptake in dairy farming. Changing across is a big step and requires knowledge, finance and expertise in certain areas.

Below is a video to see how one Mayo farmer made the big switch.

Making a successful transition

Lely Center Mullingar, in conjunction with AIB and the local milk supplier, will be present on all three farms to talk you through the steps required to make a successful transition.

The presentations on the day will include:

Yard design, buildings and project management: Retro fit or new build?;
ABC grazing and farm management: How to manage a robot cow;
Using valuable robot information and data for best practice;
Financing the transition into dairying / dairy expansion – by an AIB agri advisor;
Lely Center Mullingar 24/7 services and back-up support;
Dairy outlook and how to become a milk supplier – by a local co-op advisor.

“We will have huge knowledge and expertise present on the day; farm management support, barn design and yard planners will be available to handle any questions you may have,” commented Alan Heaney, Lely Center Mullingar.

“Our last 10 robotic installations have been on new entrants’ farms. We see this trend growing even more this year as beef farmers in particular are frustrated with the beef industry,” he said.

Eamonn O Reilly, AIB, spoke on the events, saying: “In the past few years, we have supported a substantial number of new entrants to the dairy sector, a number utilising robotic milking machine options.

“We will be on hand at all three events to discuss financing the transition to dairying, key bank considerations when applying for finance, repayment options and how best we can support individual farmers.

“Be sure to talk to some of our team if you are considering switching to dairying, looking at options to produce milk on a second unit or seeking to increase existing stock numbers,” he concluded.

Venues and times for the events are:

Tuesday, March 12 – Michael and Enda Horgan, Fingerstown, Castletown, Navan, Co. Meath, C15 K120;
Wednesday, March 13 – Denis and David Condron, Scregan, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, R35 RY68;
Thursday, March 14 – Ruari Delaney, Coolnaha, Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo, F35 EY27.

All seminars will take place from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. Venues will be signposted from the main roads and light refreshments will be served.