Family & Flexibility is the key

Located in the heart of Lockerbie, Dumfries & Galloway - Andrew Sloan farms Bruntshields Farm alongside his wife Sharon and three sons, Arran, Duncan & Alistair.

Back in 1999, to allow for Andrew & his brother to farm individually - Bruntshields Farm was bought. This is where Andrew & his family began to build their dairy. Starting off with milking 90 cows in an 8:16 parlour.

The process of looking into automation started in 2008.  And in December 2010, two A3 Next Lely Astronauts were installed with a third installed in 2024.

A new shed was built for the robots – initially the plans were to retrofit but the Sloan Family knew the herd numbers would grow, and a new shed would be needed within a couple of years, so they bit the bullet and built the new shed. Within the shed, they have large wide passages and good light. In addition, a separation pen was built behind the robots for newly calved cows to have access to a robot without going into the main shed area. Andrew normally keeps them in the separation pen for a couple of days after calving. This doesn’t only keep the newly calved cows safe; it allows newly calved heifers to train on the robot for a few days. Looking back over the setup, Andrew added “I would make the separation area slightly bigger to accommodate the growth of the herd”.

Dairy automation gives the family a flexible approach to milking. This was the main focus for them, allowing for them to participate fully in family orientated activities.  

Cow comfort & allowing cows to reach their full potential without standing in a collecting pen three times per day was another focus for Andrew. If they had remained with the parlour, they would have increased to three times per day milking to allow cows to reach full potential. With the robots, the cows can reach their full potential with free access. At Bruntshields, the cows are now averaging 3.2 milkings per day on the robots.

Another added benefit from moving to dairy automation is the increase in litres - The Sloan family have gone from 24 litres in the parlour to 35 litres with the robots. In addition to this, Andrew has saw a decrease in mastitis, with very little cases within the herd now.

With the automated package, comes Horizon. Horizon helps Andrew to keep an eye on whole herd analysis. Andrew & his son Alistair now have all the bulling heifers on the same system as the cows to see heat probability. “Heat probability on the robots is extremely accurate” added Andrew. Alistair & Andrew do the artificial insemination at home when the Horizon programme alerts them of their optimum time.

Andrew uses the Horizon app on his phone to its full potential - alarm notification, heat probability etc. As for any breakdowns, Lely Center Ayr run a hotline service through out the day. Andrew is able to call for advice on the alarm notification. On the line, Lely Center Ayr have extremely well experienced engineers & usually they can help to resolve any issues. However, if something is broken & we require an engineer on farm - Lely Center Ayr run a 24/7 support system someone is always with me very quickly. “The service is excellent & always quick – the hotline is a great addition to the business” added Andrew.

Alongside the astronauts, the Sloan Family installed the Lely Discovery manure scraper in 2018.   With the Discovery cleaning the passages several times per day there are no waves of slurry – improving the cows foot health. In addition, the beds are cleaner with little transfer of muck from the passage, meaning an improvement with udder health.  Overall, the cows are very clean.

In addition to the Astronauts & Discovery, the Sloan Family will be installing a Juno Flex in May 2025. This piece of kit will ensure the feed is at the fence 24/7. Allowing the cows to have access to feed all the time, reduce the need for cows stretching & pushing at the feed fence. With all this in place - in time the feed intake will increase, in turn hoping to increase the litres in the tank.  

The family first installed a Lely Calm in July 2010 for automated calf feeding. The Calm gives you individual calf management, flexible feeding schedules with stable and exact milk temperature and time saving. "The dairy heifer calves learn to go into the station to get fed, this prepares them for when they go into the robot station as milking heifers.  Today’s calves are our future milking cows so getting a good start is essential"

“Robots give you the best of both worlds, more milk, healthy cows” added Andrew. “We describe the cows at home as, ‘free range’. They have the freedom to feed, milk & rest when they wish, allowing us to get the maximum return from them. The robot shed is a very calm area, cows are happy and relaxed. With the robots, staff retention has been good for Andrew, “we can offer flexi time to suit our staff & their families too, we don’t have the regimented milking time”.

Andrew concluded, “The Lely automated farming system on our farm has given us increased yield, happy, healthy cows and the flexibility at the time to attend all my son’s school, sporting and social events – watching them grow into the young men that they are today. It’s the robots that has given me that precious time”, “Lely Center Ayr provides an excellent service, they have a great team of engineers in the Dumfries & Galloway area. Having robots now for over 14 years, it’s the best decision we have made on the farm”