A Lely Atlantic hybrid event has highlighted the importance of herd health and reliability.
The event was specifically aimed at farmers who are interested in the Lely Astronaut automatic milking system, and gave them an opportunity to get a better understanding of how these systems could work on their farms.
If you missed the live event you can still watch it back here, and learn how it could work for you.
This video will give you a chance to hear from farmers Jerome O’Connor, Michael Barrett and Rikki Bayer on how they have improved their overall herd health since installing their automatic milking systems.
It will also give you the opportunity to hear about how they have found the reliability of their robots.
During the Lely Atlantic hybrid event these three farmers were also joined on the panel by hosts Addi Kidson and Olivia Edgerton from Lely’s Farm Management Support team.
Lely panel
Rikki Bayer is originally from Germany, and took over a dairy farm in northeast Co. Cork in January 2022.
She spoke about her experience of milking her 130 cows on two A4 robots in Co. Cork.
Viewers also heard from Jerome O’Connor, who farms in partnership with his mother, Nuala and his father, James.
He discussed his experience of milking 120 cows on two A5 robots.
The robots on his farm were installed on a greenfield site and have been in operation since March 2021.
Last but not least is Michael Barrett, a dairy farmer who started milking in two A5 robots in March 2020.
Image: Lely Center Mitchelstown
A third A5 robot was added to his farm in January 2023, and these three machines now milk 170 cows.
Michael has found that the robots have freed up more time for him to focus on other farm activities.