Spreading the risk with Robots

The ability to spread risk and expand gradually by adding robots over a 20 year period has been the big advantage of moving to automated milking at Hardwick Farm, Abergavenny

Dave Jones believes it’s particularly beneficial as the investment can be spread over a number of years, compared to one large initial outlay for a parlour which may then be underutilised during herd expansion.

As a tenant farmer, the fact robots retain their worth has also proved a big plus. “The milking parlour is virtually worthless the next day, where as the robot, however old it is, they still have a value,” he says.

This was proven when the two secondhand Lely A2 models initially installed in 2004 were purchased by a farmer who had approached them initially for “not far off what we’d paid for them.” The sale in 2007 was an excuse to upgrade to two new A3s. It’s those machines that have done one million milkings each since their installation, and are still going strong.

For around 11 years the herd sat at around 140 cows, producing 9,500 litres a cow a year, milked through these two A3s. Ongoing TB challenge meant maintaining herd size was an issue. However, the installation of 600m of badger fencing in 2017 proved beneficial.

This, together with improved fertility, production and cow longevity encouraged the family to expand further. As a result, grant funding was used to install an A5 Astronaut in 2018 and another in 2022, with herd size increasing to 277 head.

Why robots?

The Jones’s had planned for this expansion in the preceding years, choosing to erect a new shed in stages with the view to gradually adding on more robots. At present, one third of the new shed houses two robots and milking cows, with straw, youngstock and dry cows in the remaining area. The set-up means further robots could be added in the future, if desired.

The robots have helped the Jones’s achieve one of their primary aims of maximising the production potential of their high genetic merit Pedigree Llanelen Holstein herd, which is in the top 5% for Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI). Even on a six abreast, the herd was producing 8,500 litres a cow a year, but a shift to three times a day milking through the robots facilitated an uplift in production to an average 10,500 litres a cow a year.

Dave also believes automated milking is one of the reason he has “quite a settled team” of three full time staff, plus himself, one part-time and family help. “It helps you’re not welded to three times a day milking and morning and evenings,” he explains, adding that it builds flexibility into the day.

Longevity

Despite working so hard for nearly two decades, Dave has no plans to replace the A3s.

“We will at some point, but there are no plans to do that in a hurry. Within reason, the longer you have them in, the better they go.

“It’s because there are continual improvements on the robots. Even when Lely stopped selling the A3s they’re continuing to try and improve their products, whether it’s reliability or performance. They don’t just focus on the new ones and give up on the old ones. Even though they’re 17 years old, they’re still getting software updates.”

The fact the service package includes seven services in two years also helps improve longevity. In addition, Dave believes the components are also becoming more reliable. All of the machines now assess milk fat and protein at every milking. A liquid feeder has also been added, allowing cows to be automatically dosed with propylene glycol around calving.

The technical support available from the Lely Center Yeovil team has helped future-proof the business and improve efficiencies, Dave says.Farm Management Support advisor, Jon Eldridge has proved particularly useful in critiquing the milk price to feed price ratio with a focus on maximising returns.

Dave adds: “If you’re down with TB and you’ve got too many cows, he helps you maximise your robot capacity. And likewise, if you’ve got slightly less cows, he helps you maximise your cow performance.”

Project Coordinator, Alistair Cummings also helped with the design of the shed and placement of the robots within it. Dave believes Alistair’s experience working on dozens of robot milking herds means he understands what works and what doesn’t. He has also suggested design features, such as putting a 3% fall on the slurry flow channels so the whole herd could be moved to sand bedding in the future. “It’s trying to future proof yourself for all eventualities,” Dave says.

Farm Facts

• Family farm including Dave Jones, wife Bethan and parents Cyril and Carol.
• 81ha (200 acre) tenanted farm with an additional 162ha (400 acre) rented farm nearby for youngstock and cereals.
• Growing grass, wheat, oil seed rape and maize.
• 277 pedigree Llanelen Holsteins milked through two Lely A3s and two A5s Astronauts.
• 10,500 litres per cow a year at 4.24% fat and 3.5% protein. With 3,500 litres milk from forage per cow a year.
• 3.3 average milking visits per cow a day.
• Supplying Muller Tesco.
• 170,000 cells/ml bulk somatic cell count.
• 22 bactoscan.
• 12 cases of mastitis per 100 cows.
• All females genomically tested with top 30% put to sexed dairy semen. The remaining 70% of heifers will go to Aberdeen Angus and 70% of cows to Limousin.
• Beef calves sold at market at one month of age.
• One Lely Juno automated feed pusher in operation, with a second due to come into service.

* The results mentioned are specific to this farm; calculated data will vary depending on specific installation conditions.