Heykoop family
“I did not push the feed with my tractor at night but now the Juno is always on the move!"
Arnold Heykoop and his wife Ida run a dairy farm in Oud-Alblas. Between them, they have six children with ages ranging from 15 to 28 years. Arnold feeds his cows twice a day and until August 2010 he pushed the roughage manually, a physical task that became increasingly heavy. Now that he has invested in a Lely Juno feed pusher, he would not have it any other way.
From 1980, Arnold ran the dairy farm in association with his father and brother. Since 1997 Arnold has run the business together with Ida. After Arnold had to work without the assistance of his father, and as the family grew bigger, the work in the barn weighed on Arnold's shoulders more and more. The amount of work had become so massive that he had less and less time to spend with his family.
Arnold and Ida then started to investigate alternatives to relieve the work pressure while still being able to grow their business. They had to make a choice between hiring more staff or automating the business. Quite soon, it became clear that automation was more advantageous, also in terms of cost-effectiveness. Therefore, they invested in two milking robots, a Lely Discovery barn cleaner plus a Lely Juno 100 feed pusher.
Why a Lely Juno?
“Well, it ensures labour saving, it is reliable and always on the move, day and night. Moreover, I find that, especially the low-ranking cows take in more feed. Whenever the cows can hear the Juno driving they come and have a look, so they are stimulated to take in their roughage. Since the cows always have the opportunity to take in feed, there is more peace and quiet in the barn. Some cows do not even bother getting up when I arrive for feeding. Due to spreading out the activity in the barn, the number of visits to the robot has increased.
I myself have far more flexibility thanks to the automation so that I can spend more time with my family or can do other work. In addition, I experience a tremendous relief of less hard physical labour. I'm sure that I could not have gone on much longer with manual feed pushing. What I would like to tell my
fellow dairy farmers when purchasing a feed pusher is that they have to bear in mind that you must keep the feed alley clear at all times whilst you also have to allow space for the charging station. Admittedly, it is a large investment but it is definitely worth-while!" says Arnold.
Lely keeps improving
When asked if we have covered everything, Arnold comments: "I am particularly pleased with Lely! The company meets its appointments, they are correct and they manufacture sustainable, durable products of a good solid quality. I find it very special to see how Lely keeps improving products until they are 100% in order. The Lely Juno 100 now functions perfectly: an outstanding technical masterpiece!"
Up to date for the future
Arnold: "With the current size of our business we are very well poised for the future. Currently, our priority is to increase our production per cow per year and we already have the necessary milk quota to achieve that. Right now, we still lease out a small part of our quota but we strive to fill that part ourselves within the foreseeable future. I have full confidence that we are going to achieve that shortly due to the purchase of the milking robots as well as the Lely Juno 100. In addition, I try to keep my business up to date as much as possible with a view to my successor, if any. At this point of time, succession is not sure but it may well happen. At any rate, this dairy farm is ready for the future"!
