Robots unlock higher yields at Fife dairy

 

“Everybody liked the cows, but nobody liked milking. The robots have given us much greater flexibility to share staff across enterprises, and cows are treated as individuals, not a herd.”

Introduction

Improvements in facilities, genetics and nutrition saw yields climb to 38 litres on twice-a-day milking at Drumdreel Farm in Fife.

However, production gains came at a cost, with increased milk leakage and lameness.

“We felt we were restricting cows on twice-a-day milking,” says Margo, who milks 200 Holsteins alongside her husband Willie and son, Ben, 27.  

Milk is sold to Muller on a Sainsbury’s contract and the family farms 600 acres growing potatoes for Tesco alongside grass and spring barley.

Margo and Willie took over the farm from Margo’s late parents, Bob and Betty Mitchell, who had been tenants on the Falkland Estate since 1945 before buying the farm in 2009.

In 2012, the family invested in a new cubicle shed and 16/32 swingover parlour, enabling them to expand from 120 milking cows.

Further gains have come through genetic improvement.

Genomic testing began in 2022 and all cows up to fourth lactation now have genomic scores.

Each year, the Websters breed 110 replacements (with surplus sold) from their highest-ranking heifers and cows. These receive two services to sexed semen before being served to Aberdeen-Angus.

Margo places particular emphasis on the EnviroCow index, which incorporates lifespan, production, fertility and feed efficiency traits.

Forage quality has also been improved. About five years ago, they moved from a traditional three-cut silage system to taking four cuts from May onwards.

However, as milk yields increased, the limitations of twice-a-day milking became more apparent.

The parlour could probably have lasted another decade, says Margo, but moving to three-times-a-day milking was impractical with current facilities and labour availability.

“High-yielding cows were uncomfortable. Lameness had risen too because cows were standing in the collecting area for too long,” she recalls.

Transition to robots

The solution was to replace the parlour with four Lely A5 Astronaut robots. They spent a lot of time deliberating on the shed design. Margo and Willie visited at least six robotic dairy farms and even used spaghetti and Blu-Tac to experiment with different layouts.  

They eventually settled on installing the robots in a head-to-head formation at the end of the twin-span shed, removing some cubicles to create sufficient space. 

The existing parlour has been converted into cubicles for fresh cows and animals requiring extra attention, still giving free access to the robot through return gates.

Improvements

Since moving to robots in October 2025, yields have increased by three litres a cow/day to an average of 41.8 litres from 3.8 visits daily.

“The cows appear much more comfortable, and they are no longer leaking milk,” comments Margo.

Lameness reduction

Previously, cows were milked at 3.30 am and 3 pm, with milking taking about 3.5 hours.

Removing fixed milking routines has reduced labour requirements by one person and transformed the working day. Morning shifts now begin at 6 am.

Crucially, time previously spent in the parlour can be directed towards proactive herd health management.

A professional foot-trimming team visits three times a year, trimming the whole herd and heifers. But Margo and Ben now have time to treat lame cows immediately, preventing problems from escalating.

Score two and three cows have fallen from nearly 7% in June 2025 (pre-robots) to 5% in July 2026.

Cows are also footbathed twice weekly through the existing handling system, while animals requiring insemination or other routine work can be automatically segregated into the handling area using Lely’s Horizon app.

“Cows are individuals now. When we were in the parlour, they were a herd,” says Margo.

 

Future

The business employs three staff alongside family labour, with the Webster’s 24-year-old daughter Emma, a vet, and younger son, Sam, 22, a student, also helping during busy periods and holidays.

Labour is shared between the arable and dairy enterprises, and Margo says removing the repetitive task of milking has renewed everyone’s enthusiasm for the cows.

“Everybody liked the cows, but nobody liked milking. Our eldest son, Ben, was more involved with the arable, but he has now taken a greater interest in the dairy.

“It has given us greater flexibility to share staff across the enterprises, and the arable staff are happy to muck in with the dairy. It’s much more flexible,” adds Willie.

They are entering their second year of robotic milking, and Margo has her sights on lifting average production to 43 litres of milk while maintaining constituents, cow health and fertility. 

She wishes her father could have seen the robotic set-up.

“I would have loved him to see the robots. We had discussed putting them in back in 2012 when we built the shed, but financially it was a step too far at that time. He was very progressive, and I think he would have loved them.”

The Websters are hosting an open day on 21 October. For more information or to register interest, visit our events page for more info