Embracing Technology for Greater Flexibility and Cleaner Cows

Great Keiro Farm is a third-generation family farm on the north coast of Cornwall, farming around 350 acres with a grazing herd of 200 cows calving all year-round. As changing weather conditions make outdoor management increasingly challenging, the farm is gradually introducing more indoor capabilities to improve cow comfort and flexibility.

In October 2025, the farm installed a Lely Collector C2 after the team at Lely Center Holsworthy assessed the farm and confirmed that they could install the C2 and docking station with only minor adaptations to the existing facilities.

Although the investment was supported by an FETF grant, the farm was convinced enough of the benefits to proceed regardless.

"We applied for the FETF Grant, but honestly, even if we hadn't been awarded it, I think we would have gone ahead anyway. Looking back, it's been one of the best decisions we've made."

The Collector has proved particularly valuable as the farm has balanced grazing with periods of housing.

"This year has been the perfect test. Normally, getting cows out to grass means less scraping work. With the Collector doing the cleaning, we could turn cows out when conditions were right, rather than feeling pressured to do it earlier just to save labour."

Since installation, the Collector has delivered consistent performance through both wet and exceptionally dry periods, using the water-spraying system, and has proven to be a vast improvement over tractor scraping. 

"The water spray has been brilliant, especially during the multiple heatwaves this summer. The robot has just kept going, even in the heat. It's doing the cubicles fantastically."

One of the biggest day-to-day benefits has been eliminating the early-morning scraping routine before milking. The result is more time for the farming team and cleaner cows and passages when the day begins.

"It's eliminated the 5am scrape before milking, which means another half-hour in bed and clean passages waiting for us every morning. The cows arrive in the parlour cleaner and return to cleaner beds."

The team has also noticed improvements in cow cleanliness and bedding usage.

"The cows are definitely cleaner and we're using less bedding. It's helped make disease control easier, and I would say hoof health has got to be improving too."

The farm has also expanded the Collector's role beyond the cubicles. What began as a solution for the cubicles has been successfully expanded to clean the farms unusually shaped collecting yard.

 “Coming into a clean collecting yard every morning has got to be an improvement for both cow cleanliness and foot health."

The system's flexibility has been another major advantage. The Collector is programmed around the farm's routine, but the team can override routes when circumstances change, such as when a vet is working in the yard. With multiple routes and room to increase its workload, the farm has found the system adaptable to its needs rather than being restricted by a fixed programme.

Importantly, the Collector has also demonstrated that robotic technology does not necessarily require a purpose-built new shed. The farm's buildings were not originally designed for a robot, yet the system has been successfully retrofitted into the existing, unconventional layout.

“This shed was never designed for robots… during minor expansion projects, a conscious effort was made to facilitate a central slurry grid position that could one day potentially accommodate an automatic scraping system. But with different-width scrape passages and awkward corners, the C2’s capabilities have proven to be the right choice of automation.”

The cows adapted quickly, too. Despite initial concerns that the robot might unsettle them, George found they became comfortable with it almost immediately; even the Heifers that come in aren’t fazed.

“They got used to the robot really quickly, and then before you know it, they're lying in a cubicle asleep, and the Collector is beeping past them, and they are not bothered at all.”

For the farm, the Collector is not about replacing people. Instead, it gives the team greater flexibility, creates a more consistent routine, and makes better use of their time.

“It's not replacing a person; it's just giving you more flexibility in your day.”

That philosophy reflects the farm's wider approach to technology. As environmental conditions become harder to predict and technology continues to advance in dairy farming, Great Keiro Farm sees automation as an important part of its future.

“My advice to other farmers would be simple: embrace technology. Once you take that first step, it's astonishing what these systems can do."

For Great Keiro Farm, the Lely Collector C2 has delivered practical benefits in cleanliness, labour, cow comfort and flexibility, while demonstrating that automation can be successfully integrated into an existing farm environment.

"The technology is there, and it does work."

 

Key Facts

• Farm: Great Keiro Farm, North coast of Cornwall
• Farm size: 350 acres
• Herd size: 200 cows all year-round calving (160/170 in milk at any one time) 
• Breed: Friesian Holstein, with Norwegian Red influence
• Yield: 9,000–10,000 litres
• Lely Collector C2: Installed October 2025
• Collector coverage: Cleans the cubicles and collecting yard
• Collector usage: Around six times a day on each route during the summer semi-housed period
• Grazing: Traditionally a grazing herd, although the farm is increasingly introducing a more housed system due to changes in climate
• Forage: Grass only – no maize
• Environmental focus: Increasing indoor capabilities with fans, more comfortable cubicles and automation as droughts, prolonged winter wet seasons and heat make outdoor conditions harder to manage.