Robots herald new era for efficiency

The couple both hail from farms but set out to farm on their own, starting with 45 cows on a small tenancy.

Farm facts:

• Milking 180 pedigree Holsteins under the Chapman prefix
• All-year-round-calving
• Supplying Arla/Tesco
• Somatic cell count of 133,000 cells/ml
• Employs one part-time and one full-time employee
• Yielding 12,200 litres at 4.4% butterfat and 3.3% protein
• Averaging 2.9 milkings daily
• Farming 520 acres on a Bournville Village Trust tenancy
• Growing 100 acres of cereals and the remainder is mostly temporary grass.

They have been Farm Business Tenants of the Bournville Village Trust at Mount Pleasant Farm in the suburbs of Birmingham for nearly two decades.

Their herd of 180 pedigree Holsteins were milked through a 23-year-old 15/30 swingover parlour, but it took eight hours to milk the cows twice daily.

“We wanted to increase yield whilst improving cow comfort without increasing labour,” reflects Peter, who says installing robots was a way of moving to three-times-a-day milking without putting extra pressure on staff.

A key requirement was seamless integration with the other technologies they were using.

“We have been using SCR collars for over ten years and use Uniform Agri herd management software. Both integrate with Lely’s Horizon software, which was a big tick box,” Peter adds.

Having already invested in two Lely Discovery collectors and a Lely Juno feed pusher two years ago, the couple were naturally inclined towards Lely.

“We did look at other robots, but we had good experiences with Lely products and received strong recommendations from other farmers using their robots. It made sense, especially with the good support in our area.”

About the building

The robots were fitted into an existing 220-cow cubicle shed. To house the three Lely Astronaut Next robots, the loafing yard was covered with an extension.

“To ensure there was enough room in front of the robots, we removed some cubicles, but we only lost six,” recalls Peter.

Slurry channels were already in place for the Lely Discovery Collectors. The main change involved regrouping cows.  

Previously, cows were split into high and low-yielding groups. However, to simplify management, cows are now run as one group and are fed maintenance +32 litres, with concentrate offered in the robot up to a maximum of 10kg a head daily.

The Total Mixed Ration (TMR) comprises 36kg freshweight of grass silage, 6kg of moist blend, 7kg of wholecrop, 2.5kg of wheat, 2kg of bread, 2.25kg of rape meal plus minerals and fats.

Making the transition to robots

The robots were 50% funded under the Farming Productivity Grant.

“We considered upgrading the parlour, but with the grant funding, robots were the obvious choice. We are really pleased at how it has come together,” adds Peter.

The robots went live on 5 August, and Lely Midlands’ Farm Management Support team provided a detailed transition plan covering milking schedules and labour requirements for a smooth shift from parlour to robots.

“After about two weeks, 80% of the cows were going through the robots on their own. We haven’t had to cull a single cow because the robots failed to milk them.

“We did dry a few off early that were at the tail end of lactation because they weren’t being offered much feed inside the robot and didn’t have that drive to be milked. We took the view that anything calving before Christmas that wasn’t making its own way to the robot would be dried off.

“Now, some of those have already calved back in and are going to the robots of their own accord,” adds Peter.

He says other farmers warned him that his phone “would never stop pinging with alarms” and he would never have a decent night’s sleep, but this is a myth.

“In three months since startup, we have only ever had one call out in the middle of the night. The cows have taken to it really well – better than I expected. They are really settled and happy.”

Benefits

Although the system is still in its infancy, milk yield has already risen by 4 litres/cow/day to 40 litres. The working day is shorter, too.

“We used to start at 4.30 am, and finish at 7 pm. Now we start at 5.30 am and are done by 5 pm,” says Peter. The robots have also freed up more time for foot-trimming and AI work.

Mount Pleasant is the only farm in North Worcestershire with a dedicated education centre and full-time teacher.  

Emma and Peter say the robots have been a great addition to teach children about modern-day farming.

“The children are gobsmacked by the technology. They don’t realise that given the chance, cows will go on their own to be milked,” says Peter.

The couple have three daughters, Georgina, 22, Lucy, 20, and Megan, 18. The youngest two are both studying agriculture at university, and although they remain undecided about their career paths, Peter and Emma think the robots have been a positive move.

“They think it’s fantastic and can see why we’ve done it. Whether they come home or not, the robots have future-proofed the business for the next 10-15 years and made the job more interesting.”