Dairy automation is now more important than ever, as on many farms across the country, herds have expanded and labour has become scarce.
Farmers have been feeling the pinch, as the first half of the year has been tight on cash flow, which has resulted in many farmers doing all of the work on their own.
An overbearing workload without any assistance can lead to burn-out, fatigue and mental health issues.
Farmers need to prioritise time away from the farm every now and then in order to look after themselves and spend time with family, and automation can be a huge aid in this.
Automation can cut down on the amount of labour required on farm and can make the farm a more attractive place to work during the busy time of the year.
Automation
Agriland spoke with the company director of Lely Centre Mullingar and Kilkenny, Niall McGauran, who said “labour is a huge issue on many farms and managing labour is also a huge issue. It is a skillset that many farmers don’t have or don’t want to do”.
McGauran spoke about the importance of futureproofing the business and setting the system up so it can be ran by one or two labour units.
With the increase in building costs and the increase in concrete costs, the two-robot system is very competitive, as there is a lot less building required, McGauran said.
Speaking about work life balance for farmers, McGauran added that at one of the evenings of Ploughing 2024, there were “about 10 men inside the tent, who all had robots in”.
He continued: “They were in no rush to go home, whereas all the parlour boys were rushing to get out and get home to get the cows milked.
“People buy to save on labour and get more information on the cows to manage them better, but the thing they enjoy the most, is the flexibility, not rushing to get home to do jobs and having a bit more freedom of how they manage their time.”
Automation is not just robotic milking, but scrapers, automatic calf feeders, automatic silage feeders, and so on.
McGauran said that despite the uncertainty around the derogation, since the turn of the second half of the year and at Ploughing 2024, there has been great interest and enquiries.
“The pipeline is busy and people are looking to the future and we are happy to be a big part of that,” McGauran told Agriland.
McGauran concluded by talking about succession: “We see a lot of investment in automation with farmers who still have 10 or 15 years left in them – they invest in automation to extend their careers and leave the farm in a better place for someone young coming behind.”