Dairy robots rekindle family farm
Newlands Farm is owned by Robert and Elizabeth Haworth. Their daughter Sarah manages the farm with her partner David Luxton and in 2018 the couple chose to make a major investment by introducing a DeLaval robotic milking system. “Sarah and I had to make a big decision about the future of the herd and the dairy. We knew we needed to invest and robots offered us an opportunity to future proof the farm,” says Mr Luxton
Three DeLaval VMS V300 milking robots were installed on the farm in a newly constructed shed designed for the 200 pedigree Holstein herd. “We have opted for a guided cow traffic system which gives our cows the choice of when to rest, feed and visit the robots to be milked. It has also given us the opportunity to spend more time managing the farm and its future.” says Mr Luxton.
The previous 16:16 parlour was deteriorating, and the couple worked very long hours milking and maintaining the equipment. “Our twins were born five years ago. We knew something had to change if we were going to be parents and dairy farmers. It was a case of change the parlour or look at more drastic measures,” explains Mr Luxton.
The cows pass through the guided traffic system which includes a series of gates and automated checks, up to 16 times. However, each cow will only gain milking permission an average of 2.5 times per day depending on individual yield and stage of lactation. Each cow is monitored using DeLaval farm management software DelPro™ that gives David a performance dashboard on his PC and his phone. The frequency each cow is milked, the yield and any health problems are all available remotely. “Even if I am away, I know exactly what is happening. I can interpret the data provided by the robots to manage every cow individually,” says Mr Luxton.
David operates a multi cut silage system and in 2019 was able to make five cuts. His silage is 11.5 ME has a 70 D value and contains 20 percent protein. This helps the herd to deliver milk with at least 4.2 percent fat and 3.2 percent protein. In the previous parlour system, the cows yielded an average of 31 litres per head. This has increased to 33.5 litres, an additional 430 litres every day in the six months the robotic system has been in place.
On April 2nd 2020 Sarah and David are opening their gates to other curious farmers who want to see how a DeLaval robotic milking system works. To find out more information on the open day CLICK HERE
