This event is on William Shilliday and family’s farm from Rathfriland Northern Ireland, who run 130 cows on two Lely A4 Astronauts. Since starting the A4’s in 2019 the cows have increased from c. 6,500 ltr to c. 8,000 ltr.

 

William’s herd is grazing on a 34 acre platform with the cows grazing during the day and inside at night, the cows are milking on average 2.7 times a day.

 

Previously it was taking six hours to milk the cows in a parlour which was not enjoyable. Now William has more time for himself and the cows allowing him to do move to 100% AI for example, his time is more flexible.

 

William Shilliday’s farm shows the increase in performance that can be achieved by using the Lely Astronaut automatic milking robot and the information it generates to its full potential, allowing the system to more than pay its way.