Tuesday, 12 July 2022 | 18.5°C Dublin
S eamus and James Bourke are milking the system at their Rathcoole holding with their DeLaval VMS V300 robot
The DeLaval VMS V300 robotic milking system on the Bourke farm in Rathcoole, Co Cork
James and Seamus Bourke say their cows adapted well to the system
The control centre of the robotic milking system
Cows in the waiting area for milking by the new robot on Seamus and James Bourke's farm
Kevin O'Sullivan of DeLaval at the milking arm of the robot
The entry and exit point for cows on Seamus and James Bourke's farm
It is midway in the second season of milking by robot for Seamus and James Bourke’s pedigree Holstein dairy herd in Co Cork, where automation has taken over from a conventional parlour system.
“ It was tough going for the first weeks,” admits James, who explains that he was the advocate of the changeover to ease the workload on his dad, Seamus, while also availing of the opportunity to increase the herd by more than a quarter.
“Once it was decided to change there was no going back — we sold the parlour system — and we have no regrets”, adds James.
“Getting the cows settled in to the robot and the grazing worked out better than I had expected. I was more apprehensive about how the grazing was going to work.
“It was a big change for the cows but they took to it better than I’d expected. I was quite surprised by that.”
There has been no noticeable change in overall herd production, although the frequency of milking has slightly increased. The cows are turning into the robots for milking an average of 2.3 times per day/cow.
“The way that I see it is that they are holding the peak for at least 10 weeks, compared to a peak of a month with the parlour milking,” says James.
The father and son partnership farms 65 hectares at Rathcoole, near Banteer, of which 45 hectares are devoted to the grazing platform for the herd, which was increased from 95 cows to 125 with an average yield of 8,600 litres/cow and individual cows yielding up to 11,000 litres.
The timing of the changeover was influenced by the restocking of the herd after a TB breakdown in 2019 and the return of James to full-time farming after graduating in agricultural science at UCD and spending a year working on a dairy farm in New Zealand.
The objective of installing the two-unit DeLaval VMS V300 milking system was to improve the work efficiency on the farm, and utilise the herd and land available to the best advantage with the least addition to the daily workload.
James and Seamus Bourke say their cows adapted well to the system
“When you are in college, coming home to farm with robots is the dream. I wanted to have a social life and not be tied to a milking parlour,” was the message from James to the scores of farmers who travelled from far and near to view the system at a recent open day on the farm.
Experts from DeLaval, and Tom Harte Farm Services Ltd, who supplied and installed the robots, were on hand to discuss the merits with the visitors.
Brian Harte told Farming Independent that his family business, founded in 1983, started installing the robot milking systems in 2015. The DeLaval V300, which was being showcased on the Bourke farm, was introduced in 2019, and 30 units have now been installed in Co Cork.
Shortage of labour remains the primary reason for most farmers who install robots, while achieving a better lifestyle is becoming of increasing priority.
“Typically the farmer with 120-130 cows is going for the two-robot system and spending €220,000 to €230,000, depending on what options they are going to have with them after that, including the level of automation that the farmer wants to have on the system,” said Brian.
Farmers are advised to budget for €5,000-€7,000/year for three routine services, including the replacement of serviceable parts, teat liners etc.
Brian stressed that “it is vital that a farmers gets good advice on the suitability for the particular system because robots are not for everyone and sometimes we have to tell a farmer a parlour system will suit him best.
“Most farmers realise now that it is not going to save them a lot of time, but it does make their day more controllable in how they use their time and if they want to take some time off, but overall the hours are not saved and the management is still critical and that is a crucial part of the success to the robots.”
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It is generally agreed that the computer-controlled milking system has become more reliable overall, but 24/7 back-up remains an essential service for a smooth operation, during the peak of season in particular.
“Around 80pc of the problems that arise are sorted over the phone. Another 10pc are sorted by the farmer over the phone and then there is the 10pc that a technician has to go to,” said Brian.
“I have an app where I can see every farm that we have a robot operating on. I can pull up any one of them and I can see exactly what issues have been raised in real time.
“I can see an alarm that a gate has been in manual mode for more than five minutes.
The control centre of the robotic milking system
“It usually means that someone has switched the switch and forgot to reset it again to automatic. That is one of the more common ones. If it is switched off and the farmer walks away without resetting it, it will set off an alarm within a few minutes
“I can log into any of the customers on the system and do a reset on the system computer and I can see what the farmer is doing on the computer. That was particularly important during the Covid-19 lockdown and it was also possible to do online training on the system.
“We find that year one is usually the most difficult and we are on the farm more often, because the farmer is new to the system and so are the cows.”
Kevin O’Sullivan, DeLaval District Sales Manager, said demand for automated systems has benefited from the surge in dairy production and the current strong milk price.
“But the costs have increased and particularly now we are seeing the big increase in building costs this year. Steel and building materials have increased a lot and it has now added considerably to the investment to install a new system”, he said.
On the farm, James Bourke has identified animal health as one of the benefits of the system.
“From a cow point of view, it is excellent for their welfare because they are doing as they please and there is no stress on them. If a cow gets lame I’m finding that it is healing much quicker because they are not being driven to the parlour and come and go at their own pace,” he says.
“The herd is currently averaging 35 litres/day. The way that I would term it is that good cows are getting a chance to become great cows with the robot. We had one cow that did over 11,000 litres last year at 4pc bf.
“Because we were rebuilding the herd at the time and bringing in a good number of heifers it probably helped the start-up. We had to push in a few of the cows, but they all have adapted to the robot.
“We included a buffer vessel and a pre-selection gate in the layout and I think that the pre-selection gate was the key to the easier start-up. Basically it is a great help if the cow gets upset. It is a tier entry and we have a buffer feeding area close to it.”
Cows in the waiting area for milking by the new robot on Seamus and James Bourke's farm
The herd is ranked as one of the top suppliers of milk solids to Kerry Agribusiness, producing 660kg milk solids/cow last year. The cows are fed a diet of high-quality grazed grass and receive 1.8t of concentrates/cow. In the springtime, grazed grass is supplemented with maize silage fed in the waiting area.
Milk quality recorded SCC at 101 and TBC of 11 in 2021 with 70pc of the herd calved within a six-week period and in-calf rate of 93pc.
More than 10 units of a newly-developed system of heat detection in dairy cows, which operates by measuring the progesterone level, have been installed on robot milking systems in this country.
John Shortall, Dairy Management Advisor, De Laval, who was in attendance at the open day on the DeLaval VMS V300 on the farm of Seamus and James Bourke at Rathcoole, Co Cork, described the add-on now available for the unit as a major advance for dairy management.
“It takes a small sample of milk as the cow is being milked and tells when the cow is coming on heat and will also advise the farmer if the cow has not held to a service,” he explained.
As reliability of results is crucial to avoid missing a cycle of the cow, he said “it is very accurate, because it is actually measuring what is going on inside of the cow.
“It is measuring the cow’s hormones. It is taking small samples to measure the progesterone throughout the lactation and establishing a baseline for the cow.
Kevin O'Sullivan of DeLaval at the milking arm of the robot
“Unlike a system that is influenced by the hormones, this is measuring the hormones, and with this system it detects the progesterone fall off when she is in heat.
“The fall off in the progesterone level is showing about two days in advance of when the cow is gong to be in heat and means that the farmer has advance notice, which is good.
“What it will do after that is to monitor when she is pregnant and tell you the time frame if she is.
“It is also identifying cows that were in-calf and did not keep with a confirmation at 55 days.
“It will tell you the cows that have not started cycling after calving, cows that are in heat, and the cows that are pregnant. About 35 days after service it will show if the cow is pregnant and provide a final confirmation at 55 days.
“One of the big advantages the farmers using the system are finding is identification of cows that are not cycling so they can be treated pre the breeding season by picking out these cows at an earlier point in the season.”
While the unit is not included with the V300 robot system supplied as standard, it can be included at an additional cost, or added later.
The time of the day decides the route back to grazing after milking for cows on the Bourke farm, where a programmed automated gate system is in control.
The recommended ABC grazing rotation for robotic systems on the farm divides the grazing area into three blocks with the daily grass allocation split across these three sections in equal time zones around the 24-hour clock.
“The ABC control grazing system which manages the cows going in and out of the robot, to direct them to their return paddock, is designed for a grass -based robotic system,” explained Brian Harte.
“The cows will travel voluntarily between the three sections at defined times of the day, passing through a series of gates known as the ABC yards, as they move between the sections. Should the cow have milking permission she is then selected by the gates into the milking yard.”
The entry and exit point for cows on Seamus and James Bourke's farm
Given that cows are naturally less active grazers at night-time, strategies are adopted to ensure that the VMS is adequately utilised during that period.
The grass allocation is weighted towards the day-time grazing sections, with the night time sectors ensuring that cows are not over-allocated grass at night-time relative to the time that they will spend there.
It means that 60pc of the daily availability of grass is allocated to the two blocks being grazed 5am to 2pm (C) and 2pm to 10pm (B) with 40pc for the period 10pm to 5am (A).
The milking platform area on the Bourke farm carries a stocking rate of 2.7 cows/ha. Last year the farm grew 13.5t/DM/ha and utilised 12 t/DM/ha.
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