Customer testimonials
Scroll down to read stories from dairy farmers across the UK and abroad.
""We wanted to take pressure off the cows and reduce our milking time which had taken around 8hrs a day”"
Togher Farm
Farm location
Laois, IrelandHerd size
350Labour was the main issue facing Tom O’Donnell and his team at Togher Farm. They had been thinking about changing their milking system for 5/6 years and then in October 2018 they decided to invest in robotic milking and installed 6 VMS V300s.
Build quality, installation and back up service were some of the factors considered when making the decision to invest with DeLaval but in the end it came down the capability of the robot.
“We were trying to get a 3rd milking but with labour it didn’t suit. Robotic milking ticked a lot of boxes, we were completely sold on the idea"
“The potential output of the V300 was more than competitors, the speed of attachment & ease of training. There are a huge amount of things we can do with a DeLaval robot that others can’t – even down to the finer details like adjusting the stall size of the robot to suit all the cows”
“The whole system appealed to us and our cows – they are more relaxed and udder health is excellent”
Previously they had spent up to 8hrs a day milking on the farm. Now they have better work life balance and can finish at 5pm rather than 7pm.
“We aren’t tied down anymore to set milking times and we no longer need to watch the clock”
Due to the investment required to start up the O’Donnells obviously need to see a return on investment. Tom talked to us about how he can now target individual cows and how he is getting the best out of them.
“Already we have seen an increase in yield – it has been 9.200 litres for the last few years and now it’s at 10.300 litres and rising”
“The DelPro reports are great – they are well presented, very easy to read and give you the information you want. The number of settings for each cow you can adjust is incredible”
When asked would Tom recommend the DeLaval VMS V300 to other farmers he said:
“Yes I think nothing can come near them. We didn’t realise how good they were until we put them in”