Robots taking over dairy

The northern Tasmania dairy farmers have seen multiple benefits on their properties and both have plans to further streamline and increase the amount of cows going through their robotic systems.

Nick Dornauf, who farms at Deloraine, to the south-east of Devonport, had a rotary automatic milking system (AMS) installed about three yeas ago, and after seeing its benefits, hoped there would be more uptake of the technology from other farmers.

“We are looking forward to more AMS dairies hitting the ground so the technology can mature more and more,” he said.

“That will be good for us and good for the wider dairy industry.”

He said they had gradually increased the number of cows going through the AMS, which meant less on-farm labour.

Down the track, they would try to understand how the dynamics in the herd could change when they are milking between 500 and 600 cows.

“We will be refining different management strategies with regard to large herds and robots,” Mr Dornauf said.

He said they had also seen little lameness in the cows, and rates of lameness had dropped as they were not being forced to move.

Marcus Crowden and his wife Zed are milking about 200 cows through their robotic dairy at nearby Caveside.

They installed two DeLaval voluntary milking system (VMS) robots in 2012 and added another last year.

Mr Crowden said the introduction of the robotic dairy had improved on-farm efficiency in terms of labour and time management.

“We started milking about 30 cows through the robotic dairy, and then moved up to between 120 and 140,” he said.

“We now milk up to 205 cows, and next year we plan to move that up to about 240.”

And the expansion plans do not end there.

“I reckon we could put a fourth robot in and go up to 320 cows.”

That expansion in the number of cows going through the robotic dairy will be achieved by the clearing of a plantation on the property to create further grazing land during the next few years.

He said the robotic dairies would increasingly have a big role to play in the industry.

“The robotic dairy has not only improved our working hours, but it is also changing what we do on the farm.”

He said they spent less time in the mud and cold, and instead on tasks like farm business management.

The system allowed the couple to monitor the dairy remotely with cameras and remote controls.

New Zealand dairy farmers Bryan, Annette and Frances Beeston, of Camelot Dairy, near Ashburton, also use robotic milking technology.

Mr Beeston said they introduced robots on their property to produce more milk from the cows.

While he said robots were not for the faint-hearted – and that they had changed the nature of the work they did on the farm – there would be a lot of progress and learning about robotic milking systems across the dairy industry the future.

He said when purchasing and maintenance costs came down it would help dairy farmers.

Nick Dornauf, Marcus Crowden and Frances Beeston all attended Sydney University Dairy Research Foundation symposium in the Hunter Valley in June, sharing their views on automated milking systems.

TASMANIAN dairy farmer Nick Dornauf is about three years into operating an automatic milking system (AMS) dairy on his Deloraine property and has noticed the dramatic changes to labour efficiency and milk production.

He’s seen multiple benefits since the installation of the rotary AMS.

“We are doing less hours and we are also doing more flexible working hours,” he said.

Mr Dornauf, pictured during the Dairy Research Foundation symposium in the Hunter Valley in June, said while they had come a long way from where they were two to three years ago, hoped to further improve and expand the system to eventually be milking up to 500 to 600 cows.

“In the short term we hope to realise all of the labour efficiencies,” he said.

Benefits have extended to productivity.

“Higher yielding cows have the ability to use the system more frequently,” he said, with some milking up to three to four times a day.

“We also believe we have between five and eight per cent more milk per cow.”