Meet the Morleys
Morleys General Content Block
With the fifth generation coming back to the farm, Glenn and Carol Morley needed to replace their tired herringbone. Plans for a rotary changed to a robotic dairy after visiting robot farms and seeing it was cost comparable. Since starting their A5 robots in 2023, milk production, conception and profitability have increased as well as health measures. The extra time and flexibility enabled a smooth transition to the fifth generation, Tim & Kim Morley, who love the robot data as well as time for family and off-farm activities.
The Morleys Text Media
The Morley family has dairy farmed in Gormandale since 1918. The 900 mm of annual rainfall in temperate Gippsland made it a great choice for dryland farming. Glenn Morley was the 4th generation to run the farm when he took it on in 1985 with his wife, Carol. When thoughts of retirement began in 2021, their son Tim and his wife, Kim, and their three kids decided to return to the farm. A new dairy was needed!
Milking in the old herringbone took up to 13 hours in spring, leaving little time to do anything else. A deposit was put on a rotary before discussions encouraged the Morleys to investigate robots. After visits to robot farms and many drafts of plans, the family installed six A5 robots into a greenfield dairy.
Several reasons contributed to the last minute change. Costs were similar between the current robotic dairy and the new 50 stand rotary with added technology such as electronic ID. The farm also happened to be well laid out for ABC grazing. And the final reason was labour. Needing less time in the dairy and having greater flexibility with robots meant more time for important jobs like pasture management, as well as off-farm time and family activities like house renovations and moves also occuring at the time.
Since start-up, all production measures have increased; yield per cow and per hectare, conception rates and Earnings Before Interest & Tax. Health costs have decreased as the robot data highlights any unusual changes, so conditions like mastitis are attended to before escalating to needing pharmaceuticals. Income has also increased as the Morleys now have time to commercially harvest colostrum. “I love data and machines”, says Tim. “If robots were already on the farm, I would have been back years ago!”
Key benefits:
- The free cow movement gives motivated cows the opportunity to excel, while Horizon software identifies cows not performing so management changes can be made for those cows.
- Support from the Lely Center Gippsland community with discussion groups and connections with like-minded farmers.
- More time to manage the rest of the farm to help the growth phase, and getting jobs done that the family never got to before.
- Glenn and Carol can slow down and step back without stress while management transitions to Tim and Kim.
- It has created a more attractive business for future generations
Morleys Action Block
It didn’t happen overnight. But the Morleys had a great support team to get them to robot start-up by June 2023. Accountants ha decades of financial records which sped discussions with the bank, and support also came from their milk factory with a cooling rebate and growth incentive. Expert trades managed their new build project.
