Robots help push up yields on Hampshire farm

Assistant Herd Manager, Andy Dunne views the two Lely Juno feed pushers at South Lynch Dairy as a crucial part of the business’s drive to raise milk yields.

In the five months the two robots have been up and running, they’ve already proved their potential, helping to reduce feed wastage and shorten the working day. Autumn milk production was also up 10% on the year, something Andy links to increased intakes thanks to the robots automatically pushing up the rations 5-7 times a day.

Speaking at the end of February, Andy said: “This year, our intakes are up from 50kg per head to 58kg per head, and it corresponds with the Junos being in. The silage this year (2023 season) has been very good quality. Our first cut has been very good, although there wasn’t much of it and our herbiseed (silage from leys harvested for grass seed) has been like rocket fuel. But the fact it’s been pushed in front of them more has to have made a difference.”

Increasing average yields has been a key driver for the business since 2017, when production dropped to 7,300 litres a cow a year. The team realised yields needed to increase to improve the bottom line. Since then, the cross-bred herd has been served to Holstein genetics with production in mind. Rather than going out to grass day and night after calving, both autumn and spring block calving herds are now buffer fed at night and grazed in the day until they are back in-calf.  This should create the right balance between having cows out at grass and production. The herd currently averages 8,100 litres a cow a year.

The business used a Farming Equipment and Technology Fund grant to part fund the Junos, with support from General Manager, Ian Tossell at Lely Center Yeovil. Prior to their installation in September 2023, a tractor mounted, fixed pusher was used to push up the diets. However, it wasn’t getting done as routinely as would have been liked. Andy reflects:  “We’ve got the staff here who are good with the cows, but not particularly good with machinery, so pushing up silage at night was becoming an issue.”

Labour

It meant Andy, or Herd Manager Nils Kurkutakis were having to push up when they had time, which was usually at 5-6pm and 9-10pm at night. The late night push-up was necessary, otherwise cows wouldn’t have feed in front of them in the morning.

Having the two Junos automatically travelling around the sheds, pushing up feed as they go, removes the need for man hours and means cows always have feed in front of them. Now, one Juno serves a new 135 cubicle shed which houses dry cows and milkers and pushes up seven times a day. A second robot then works across a 317 cubicle shed housing milking cows, and also has the option to move across the yard to another shed to push up feed for dry cows when they are housed.

“It’s doing a job that we can’t do on that scale, ie. pushing it in all the time. It’s got to be making a difference to those yields,” Andy comments, adding that the Junos also do a good job pushing up hay.

The winter, milking cow’s diet includes grass silage, maize silage, a blend, home produced ground maize, minerals, urea and bicarb. Cows are fed to yield in the parlour.

The fact the Junos push the ration in, towards the feed fence, rather than along the feed fence with the tractor mounted pusher, means there’s a lot less waste. In fact, Andy thinks they were having to remove two box scrapers’ full of wasted ration from each bay, every day, compared to half of that volume, every other day currently. He does stress that they push cows to clear up more, aiming for a refusal rate of 2-3%.

Cost

Andy believes the running costs are “quite negligible,” particularly when compared to pushing up with a loader, the fuel required and a person. During one occasion involving the tractor mounted pusher, an incident with a gate resulted in a £700 tyre needing to be replaced. Consequently Andy says the Junos are more than worth it. They’ve also proved very simple to install. “The thing I liked about the Junos was there was a minimum requirement to have them: just a little shed to put up. And the way they go back to a charge point in all weathers. You soon learn you don’t have to worry about them,” Andy says.

It means Andy can do his final cow checks at 8-8.30pm, shortening his day by about an hour. “The job we were going out for is done for us. I fall asleep downstairs on the sofa, a lot earlier now,” he jokes.

He also rates the support from Lely Center Yeovil’s technical team: “The service is really good. We’ve used the technical people several times for stuff beyond our knowledge and they come out promptly. The service is excellent."

Farm Facts:

• South Lynch Estate, totally 1,214ha (3,000 acres). Includes arable, dairy and indoor pigs.
• 194ha (480 acres) of grazing and silage ground for dairy, plus option for additional 81ha (200 acres) of silage from arable ground.
• 450 cows: Swedish Red x British Friesian x Montbeliarde base, being crossed back to a Holstein to increase yields.
• Milked twice daily through a 30:60 swingover.
• 8,100 litres a cow a year at 4.29% fat and 3.41% protein.
• 3,631 litres a cow a year milk from forage.
• Supplying Muller M&S.
• 300 autumn and 150 spring block calvers each calving in a 12 week block.
• Grass seed is produced for herbiseed on the arable ground, with aftermaths cut for haylage and regrowth made into silage for dairy.
• Somatic cell count of 141,000 cells/ml.
• 13 cases mastitis per 100 cows.
• Average bactoscan of 17.