By installing three GEA robotic milking machines, the Frame family of Craigthornhill Farm, Strathaven, have not only achieved their goal of a less labour-intensive system, they have also improved overall herd health.
Having introduced the robots last year, the family has saved seven hours of milking time putting 185 Holstein cows through a parlour twice a day, enabling them to attend to other farm duties.
“We were at a stage where we were going to need to employ staff when there is a shortage of good farm workers out there. We wanted a less labour-intensive and a more flexible farming system which robots seemed to provide,” said Wilson Jnr, who is the fourth generation and now farming alongside his father, also Wilson, and his uncle, Jim.
Wilson Snr added: “Yields have also increased, and the management of the cows has become a lot easier. Rather than focusing on milking and getting the job done, we can now take time to look and analyse the cows.”
Having refurbished the existing 16/16 herringbone parlour 10 years ago, it was in need of an upgrade again.
The herd was previously producing average yields of 9500 litres per cow, which has already increased by 1040 litres per head with other improvements still to be made.
“We have particularly noticed a difference in our heifers, which have jumped from 7500 litres to 9500 litres, and are rising all the time,” said Wilson Jnr, adding that the herd is milked on average 3.1 times per day with components of 4.17%BF and 3.25%P.
All milk is sold through Yew Tree, which was taken over by Muller earlier this year, but the Frame family hope to continue their strong relationship.
“There is no denying that the move to robots was a lot of hard work and stress on the cows to make the switch, but now that we are a year in, we’re seeing the benefits as are the cows.”
“Going forward we want to keep our herd a bit younger when we see our heifers flourishing the most through the robots.”
Having researched and looked at several robotic systems, the decision was made to install three GEA R9500 robots due to the service supplied through DairyFlow.
“The robots are also of excellent quality and they have cameras which enable a faster attachment time over lasers. The 3D camera teat detection can achieve a super-fast attachment, with a minimum of movements. There is also a space behind the robots making it easier to work with any cows from behind,” said Wilson Jnr, who has also found that hoof health has also improved.
“Udder health has also been enhanced, with cell counts dropping from 160 pre-robot to average 110, due to the cows getting milked regularly and a consistent cleaning process after each milking,” he added.
The family also invested in CowScout heat detection and health monitoring collars.
“CowScout works 24/7 to monitor cow activity to indicate if a cow is in heat, thereby improving insemination rates, pregnancy rates, and reducing insemination costs – all with lower labour inputs.
“They also alert us when cows are about to go sick before it is visible, which means we can recover the problem quicker. I can pick up more problems looking at the computer than I can walking through the shed,” said Wilson Jnr.
The cubicle shed which was built in 2008 had to be expanded by 60 feet to accommodate the robots and is now able to house 194 milking cows in cubicles which are lined with mattresses and a dusting of sawdust for cow comfort.
The shed also has calving pens and underneath the robot area is a slurry tank for holding any waste.
The family have also been able to reduce their fertiliser bill by a third by analysing their slurry through a HarvestLab system, with the help from contractor David Robertson, who has all the technology to do such things.
“We came to realise how valuable our slurry is, and we knew we had to make the most of it when fertiliser prices jumped,” said Wilson Snr.
The family try and do as much tractor work as they can, but for the bigger kit they get sub-contractors in to help.
They aim to take three cuts of 180 acres of silage, with first cut analysing at 11.8ME, 72 D-value and 13% protein this year.
“The weather has been a huge challenge this year. We would normally have our third cut done by now. We have been lucky with our first two cuts with the weather windows but producing silage is vital for a dairy herd as it is the cow’s diet for a whole year,” said Wilson Jnr, who also grows 45 acres of grain.
“Keeping the diet consistent is the most important aspect of dairy farming,” he added, pointing out that the milking herd is fed a TMR diet devised by Quest Farm Supplies, with a Davidsons Animal Feed’s cake fed to yield through the robots.
Since the robots were installed the herd has been kept inside all year round. Heifers calve down at 26 months of age, getting two chances of AI before being swept up with an Aberdeen Angus bull.
Sexed semen is used and all AI is done in house, with Holstein heifer calves retained as replacements for the dairy herd.
Beef calves are sold at 18 months of age through the store ring at Lanark. However, if they are short of space, they are sold as calves through the same market.
Calves are given colostrum as soon as possible and are housed in individual pens for 10 days before moving on to an automatic calf feeder until about 10 weeks of age. From there, they move into a youngstock shed of straw courts and thereafter to cubicles.
Weaned calves are fed a calf crunch from Roadhead Farm Feeds before moving to a Smellie's blend right up until they are in calf.
“Getting the calf right is vital, it is the future of the business, and we believe that comes with hygiene. It is so important to clean sheds out prior to putting new groups of calves in the shed,” said Wilson.
Looking to the future, he added: “There needs to be a strong dairy future, with the investments made on farms we need to be able to pay them off.
“There are going to be more regulations coming in and it is something we are going to have to learn to work with.
“The next goal for us is to drive efficiency further. Our numbers are where they need to be, but there is potential to push our yield up to 11,500 litres to get the scope out of our herd.
“We have made this large investment and are now committed to our future,” concluded Wilson.
Farm facts
Involved: Wilson Frame, his father, Wilson and his uncle, Jim.
History: Purchased Craigthornhill Farm in the 1890s
Acres: 220 acres at Craigthornhill, with a further 50 acres owned at Strathaven, and 100 acres rented.
Livestock: 185 milking cows, with 490 head of stock.
On the spot
Best investment: We’re only a year in but already the robots are looking like the best investment we’ve made.
Best advice: Wilson snr said: “Listen to me more” and Wilson jnr added: “As I get older maybe he’s not that wide off the mark.
Best achievement: Although it was a while ago now it would be winning the Winter Fair in 1979 and 1991 with home-bred cows.
Future of dairy industry: The likelihood is there will be fewer dairy farms as the current trend doesn’t look like stopping, but hopefully it will be a more stable and profitable industry to encourage people that it’s a worthwhile career to pursue.
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