Jim O’Brien, who runs a dairy farm in Croom, Co. Limerick, first installed a Fullwood M²erlin in 2013 – and decided to upgrade again this year.
Jim chose to install a robot on his farm after a lot of careful consideration. “I really enjoy milking,” he explained “but the old parlour hadn’t had a penny spent on it since it was originally installed”.
“The robot lets me spend more time with the cows outside of the parlour, and lets me concentrate on managing the grassland to maximum effect,” the dairy farmer added.
“We can produce plenty of fresh grass in this part of Ireland so it makes sense for us to graze the cows for as many days as possible – that’s the cheapest way for us to produce milk.”
The cows are given free access to fresh grass for up to 10 months of the year, with a grazing gate system automatically diverting cows to one of three grazing areas, with each zone accessible for eight hours per day.
The availability of fresh grass acts as incentive for the cows to visit the robot an average of 2.5 times per day – on Jim’s farm to gain access to fresh grass the cows pass through a pre-selection gate which determines if the cow is due to be milked, sending the cow to be milked in the M²erlin or back to grass.
This helps to maximise the robot efficiency; once in the robot the cows can be fed concentrate meal tailored to each individual cow.
Jim also constructed a network of cow tracks and a simple, but effective system of electrical fencing to take the cows to each day’s relevant grazing area.
In terms of updates to the machine, Fullwood Packo says it has increased attachment speeds – adjusted for even smother movement – while making them more reliable, to make milking more efficient and pleasant for both the cow and the farmer.
There’s also been a greater focus on cow health: Improvements in teat brushing and spraying has improved overall hygiene, as the cows are milked fully and properly for greater overall wellbeing in the herd. Meanwhile, a new teat detection system has also been launched: the TDS2.
“A lot of a farmers ask has it improved my quality of life, asking ‘has it made your life easier or better?’
“It does, especially if you are working on your own. If you have kids they take a lot of time – and if you are tied to the milking that can be two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening in a lot of places.
“My routine now is I get up, get the lunches, get the kids on the bus and then I come down the yard in my own time.
It does eliminate all the stress that’s there, in the morning especially. You’re still busy usually by day as there are loads of jobs to be doing on the farm, but it does just take the edge and you are more relaxed when you are doing stuff.
“One of the useful things that I find is you can bring the computer up on your phone and you can see the cows milking or see if there’s a problem.”
According to Fullwood, new and improved sensors have increased the amount of data collected during milking, which then synchronises with the M²erlinInfo smartphone app for remote access and utilities. This includes customisable alarms for any issues during milking or cleaning.
Continuing, Jim said: “With the new machine, the M2, you also have the ability to check all the information on the computer on your phone, you can check for example – if you have a cow with an infection – when she came in last time, what her levels were at – which is very handy; and you can do that from the comfort of your own home.
“The difference between a robot and a milking machine is basically you are not tied to time, you don’t have milking times as such. If you are going somewhere in the evening time, you actually just come down do your jobs a little bit earlier and you are out the door.
“In the morning there is no rush down, the machine keeps working away. If there’s ever a problem it will ring you and you can have a look at it at that stage; but in general there is no rush.
“Most farmers when they come here they ask two questions – firstly does it work and the answer is obviously it does; – and the second one is would you go back to a milking parlour? The answer is no, definitely not.”
