Teagasc has put together a collection of ‘virtual farmyard tours’, aimed at allowing farmers – particularly dairy farmers who are looking to build new parlours – to see examples of other projects while Covid-19 travel restrictions are in place.
The library of virtual tours is hosted on the Teagasc website. The authority expressed its appreciation to the farmers who allowed their farms to be filmed.
The virtual tours include a series of 360° photographs. The virtual tour highlights certain features of each farm that are, according to Teagasc, worthy of attention, such as cow flow routes. These are accompanied by additional videos explaining the features in more detail.
“I would encourage farmers planning a new project to have a look around each of the tours. If you are building a herringbone parlour, don’t confine yourself to looking at just the herringbone tours. There are unique ideas in each of the parlours which could be used in any new parlour,” said Francis Quigley, Teagasc farm machinery and milking machine specialist.
He added: “Another big advantage of the virtual tour is that you can go back and visit the farm as often as you want to check out the finer details, such as how a gate was hung or a drain is laid.
Every farm is unique and each farmer has their own preference of what works best for them but it’s very rare that a visit to another farm will not give you a new idea or a different way of tackling a problem.
“We are confident that you will find some new ideas that you can use in your parlour if you take the time to go through the virtual tours,” Quigley concluded.
More tours will be added to the collection as they are completed, Teagasc says.