THE very thought of spending $1.4 million on a new dairy would be enough to make any person to have a series of sleepless nights.
It’s a massive figure and Stuart and Sarah Crosthwaite had their fair share of tossing a turning.
But there was one thing that got them through … they knew it was the right decision.
Last month Stuart and Sarah and Stuart’s parents Don and Pam, hosted an open day at their farm in the Kiewa Valley in north east Victoria to thank those who had helped them plan and build the dairy.
The day also provided the chance for other dairy farmers to come and see the latest in dairy shed technology.
And there is no doubt that the 54-unit rotary complex is a magnificent set-up. It is spacious, light, well ventilated and it provides a welcoming environment to milk the Crosthwaite’s 450 cows.
It has all the latest computer-operated systems such as automatic cup removers, automatic feed dispensers, mastitis detection, teat washing … and the list goes on.
The aim is to have a one-person operation and Stuart is confident that this can be achieved.
Away from the milking platform, there is a crush system for AI and treating cows with mastitis or other health issues. A new yard has also been built and an upgraded effluent system has been installed.
And it’s all on a new site and that has added value to the overall project.
The dairy is now in the centre of the farm on a specially selected location. It has significantly reduced the amount of walking time for the cows and the virtual “greenfield” site has ensured that all aspects of efficiency and management have been covered.
“It is a lot of money. There’s no doubt about that,” said Stuart. “But we had to make the farm more efficient.
“We have a lot of confidence in the future of the dairy industry and we believe that it is the right thing to do.
‘There are lifestyle issues involved. In the old 15-unit herringbone it was taking up to four hours per milking. Now the cows are through in less than half that time.
“It is a big investment and everyone will look at the flash equipment and wonder ‘how are they doing that.’
“But what has to be understood is that since Sarah and I took over the day-to-day operation of the farm five years ago we have doubled milk production. Yes, we are milking more cows but we will be producing something like 2.9 million litres of milk a year.
“We couldn’t keep producing that amount of milk in the old dairy.
“We have worked to get better-producing cows and the pastures are now as we want them so the next step was to match those things with a dairy that will enable us to get full value from the base that we have established.”
The dairy was first used in mid-December last year with 360 cows taking their first tentative steps onto the rotary platform.
Stuart and Sarah lease the farm from Stuart’s parents. It covers 480ha of which about 190ha are used for the milking herd.
When Stuart and Sarah made up their mind that they were going to build the dairy, they sought advise from local dairy construction consultant, David Nicoll.
They then became involved with Waikato milking systems and were invited to New Zealand to see the new generation of milking sheds.
“There is no doubt that a lot of the planning came from ideas picked in New Zealand,” Stuart told visitors to the open day.
He also thanked his parents for the freedom to put his ideas into motion and the efforts of local tradespeople who had worked on the project.
Despite the stress involved in building the new shed, Stuart said there were no regrets.
“I have heard the stories about people who build new dairies and can’t work out why they hadn’t done it sooner. Well, I’m among that group,’ Stuart said.
‘There are so many benefits. The cows milk quicker and better; milking time is reduced; there is less stress for cows and milkers and all this adds up to a better lifestyle.”

WHAT’S a former bank manager and his bank-teller wife doing running a 420ha dairy farm?
Well, it all goes back to their years as children and teenagers.
Both were brought up on the land and both concede that once farming gets in the blood, it is hard to get rid of the bug.
Just the same, banking and high finance seems to be a long way from the fields of Bookaar, just north west of Camperdown in Victoria’s south west.
For Jenny Anker, it’s a case of returning home. For husband Ray, it’s the renewal of a family history that mixed dairy with beef and sheep.
Ray, 66, was brought up at Strathbogie in the north east Victorian highlands. His parents had 80 cows and Ray would help milk them after school and at weekends.
They were good times that he put behind him when he joined the National Bank. It was the start of a career that saw him managing branches in Melbourne and as far afield as Swan Hill, Portland and Lismore, just to name a few.
About 15 years ago his banking career came to an abrupt halt when he was retrenched as part of a re-organisation program.
Jenny remained in her job as a teller before the couple decided to take up farming and bought a property near Mansfield where they ran 300 head of beef.
It was like going home for Ray with Strathbogie virtually across a nearby ridge.
His financial skills were quickly recognised locally and he took on the role as manager of the local credit union for five years.
But the Mansfield property struggled to be viable and Ray and Jenny knew they would have to look elsewhere.
Ray saw a mortgagee auction advertised on the internet and took Jenny along to the sale.
“He didn’t tell me where it was but as soon as we turned into the Darlington Rd I knew where we were. The farm that was for sale was right near where I had grown up,” Jenny said.
The property needed work,as did the house. But there was a new 60-unit rotary dairy and ground that Ray knew would grow good pasture if managed properly.
They also needed cows and they sourced their herd from local farmers,one of whom was retiring from the industry.
Ray’s financial nous also told him there was a monthly pay cheque to provide essential cash flow and the potential to turn the farm into a profitable business.
That was all seven years ago and the original sale involved 652ha. The couple have since bought the neighbouring farm of 128ha.
And while there is still plenty to do on the farm, much has been achieved.
“We knew there were issues when we bought the farm but the brand new dairy was a great start,” said Ray.
“There were also problems with water but we found that the bore system could be managed better and we set about installing tanks and we can now store more than 300,000 litres which is used at the dairy and in the paddocks.”
Additional troughs have been installed which are fed by a new pipe system and paddocks have been reduced in size.
Ray said the flats on the farm were a peat-clay mixture and provided an ideal base for pasture growth.
Both Ray and Jenny have not been daunted by their change in lifestyle and have thrived on all the challenges.
“If you want to do something, you just put your head down and push hard,” said Jenny.
Ray sees a sense of achievement in the work he is doing.
“I love getting out and ripping up a paddock, planting new pasture and then watching it grow,” he said.
The Ankers are now milking 350 cows with the help of a permanent staff member and three casual workers.
They did get as high as 400 cows four years ago but Ray suffered a badly broken ankle and was severely restricted so numbers dropped to as low as 220.
But since then there has been a gradual increase with a plan to reach 500 cows within two years and then a peak of 600.
The Ankers are also self sufficient when it comes to feed. They plant crops and pasture and cut their own hay and silage.
For Ray and Jenny, farming provides them with the chance to work together on a project they both enjoy.
“One of the things I really love about farming is that Jenny and I can share ideas of improving the farm,” Ray said.
The couple has three sons. Andrew, 45, is in Singapore working in the computer industry’ Matthew, 43 is a Lutheran pastor near Shepparton and Rod, 41, has a hair dressing business in India.

THE Dowling name has been highly re-garded and respected in dairy circles in South Gippsland for a number of generations.

And it looks like it will continue for some time yet with 24-year-old Mark Dowling hoping to take over the reins of the Berry’s Creek farm in the future.

Mark is the son of Kevin and Josie Dowling and they run the farm in partnership with Kevin’s brother, Eric and his wife, Karen.

Mark has been working on the farm with his father and uncle for the past eight years and loves the challenges that every day throws up.

Both Kevin and Eric are now intending to step back from  the  day-to-day     op-erations and that has allowed Mark’s sister, Grace, and her husband, Cor Koe Doot to take a role on the farm.

Cor is from Holland and met Grace while the pair were     backpacking around Australia some years ago.

They married and moved to Holland for seven years but returned to Berrys Creek in September last year when the opportunity to be part of the farm came up.

The couple had their first baby, Keagan, in January.

For Mark, having Cor and his sister back home has made life a lot easier.

Cor has no farming background but is an enthusiastic worker and is keen to learn as much as he can about dairy farming.

Already Mark has found it possible to get a couple of days break each week, allowing Cor to look after the farm.

All the time though, he knows his father and uncle are there for back-up.

Mark’s grandfather, Jock, was a leading figure in the dairy co-operative movement in South Gippsland and was a director of Murray Goulburn.

The family farm covers 220ha with a further 45ha leased. They milk 450 cows in a 50-unit rotary shed.

For Mark, the chance to continue the Dowling dairy line provides the opportunity of a lifetime.

He recalled how he was always interested in the farmand the cows as a young boy and would help out after school.

“I really didn’t want to do anything else. I couldn’t see myself working in an office. I just wanted to be on the farm.”

For Cor, swapping his career in sales in Holland for farm work in Australia was not a difficult decision to make. He would leave family and friends behind but believed there would be greater opportunity in Australia.

“Sometimes you have to take a punt in life and if I wasn’t going to make the move now, I would never have made it,” he said.

Farm work isn’t totally new to Cor.

On visits to Australia with Grace, he often spent time working on the Dowling farm.

“I knew what to expect so that made the decision a little bit easier.”

Mark has another younger sister, Kimberley, 21, but she has yet to get the dairying bug.

IF they are not careful, Malcolm and Michelle Sharp may soon have more horses than cows on their farm near Simpson, in south west Victoria.

Of course, that’s an exaggeration, but just the same, the number of horses seems to be growing all the time.

“I think we’ve got 16,” said Malcolm.

“But have you counted the two ponies, and wasn’t there that other one,” added Michelle.

Malcolm furrowed his brow and said: “Yes, I think you’re right.”

And it’s all happened so quickly … within the past two and a half years in fact.

Malcolm, 44, had always been interested in horses and had a racehorse trainer’s licence more than 15 years ago.

But he let it lapse as he concentrated on dairy sharefarming with his parents at Gellibrand,south of Colac.

But a decision to attend a 10-day horse breaking course run at Glenormistion about three years ago turned his interest in horses into a sideline business for his dairy farm.

The fact that the couple now own their own farm also made a significant difference to taking on the business that now sees Malcolm breaking in up to four horses a month.

And he has also reinstated his trainer’s licence,but more of that later.

Malcolm’s parents had firstly operated a dairy farm south of Geelong before moving to the south west of Victoria where they settled at Gellibrand.

Michelle’s family also operated a number of dairy farms in the south west before their recent retirement.

So when the couple met at a deb ball, it seemed inevitable that they would end up married and they now have three children, Stephen, 20, Jessica, 17 and Andrew, 19.

Malcolm had worked on the family farm since he left school in Year 9 and soon after the couple married, they sharefarmed with Malcolm’s parents for about eight years before moving to another sharefarm near Simpson where they stayed for about five years.

And it was an eventful five years.

Malcolm broke his ankle and was out of action for 17 weeks, leaving the responsibility of running the 160ha, 220 cow farm pretty much in Michelle’s hands.

Then Malcolm developed pneumonia to such an extent that his life was in danger.

He was able to overcome the illness but Michelle said that it proved to be a turning point for the couple.

“We wanted to stay in dairying but we decided if we were going to have problems like we had just faced, we would rather have our own farm,” she said.

So the search started. They wanted to stay in the south west but a number of boxes had to be ticked.

First of all, they needed to be able to afford the farm. They wanted a good house and a comfortable dairy and the lay-out of the farm needed to be well planned and efficient.

Quite a tall order, but they found what they were looking for.

They owned their herd but sold most of the heifers and a substantial amount of equipment to buy the farm where they have now been for more than eight years.

The farm covers 72ha and they milk up to 120 cows in a 13-a-side shed.

To help finance the farm, Michelle got a job with a solicitor’s office at Colac but late last year a job came up at MG’s Simpson Trading Store and Michelle applied and got the job.

It had made quite a difference to the family’s lifestyle as the farm is about eight minutes from the store compared to the 30-40 minute drive into Colac.

And now back to the horses.

After completing his horsebreaking course, Malcolm’s mother bought three yearling racehorses at a Melbourne sale. She had bought young horses before and found the costs to break them in to be higher than anticipated.

So now she had the answer to her problems … her son.

And Malcolm’s reputation has quickly grown with many local people seeking his services.

He has now turned more seriously to training and had his first horse, Hi-Tech Girl, ran at the Terang races on New Year’s Day.

It wasn’t an auspicious start as the horse was injured and is now spelling. But the enthusiasm is back and Malcolm hopes to have his mother’s horses at the track in the near future.

While the horses remain a great interest, Malcolm hasn’t lost his appetite for dairying.

In fact he and Michelle are thinking of selling their current farm to buy a bigger property so they can better operate both the milking and horse training and horsebreaking interests.

It has been a happy homecoming for the Palmer family.
Stuart, Cecelia and their kids Annie, Lucy, Jude and Gus have just returned home to their dairy farm (located between Cohuna and Kerang) after it was flooded in January last year.
While it has certainly been a hard 12 months for the family, coming home has given them all a new lease of life.
“When I shut the door on the vat room for the last time I honestly didn’t know whether or not I would be back,” Stuart said.
“But we have come back and I want to get the home farm up and running to milk 300 cows. We have got some lasering to do and I have decided I can’t sit on my hands anymore.”
Cecelia adds: “Stuart needs to finish what he’s started. We all love it here and farming is a great life for the kids.”
Things were looking pretty grim for the family though, when over half of their 647 hectare farm was inundated with flood water on January 25. Stuart has always taken pride in his farm and to see all his hard work disappear under an inland sea was pretty hard to take.

“Stuart kept everything in such a pristine condition. We were lucky the house and dairy stayed dry, but most of our pastures were gone except for a small paddock of lucerne near the house,” Cecilia said.
“It all just happened so quickly,” Stuart said.
“My dad and I went for a drive out to one of our blocks and when I went down the road the water was coming towards us. It was getting higher and higher and it really freaked me out, I wondered if it was ever going to stop. I knew then it was time to move the cows.”
Stuart made the decision to send his cows away from the district and because he was originally from the Lockington Bamawm area, and he had some contacts there, he decided that was as good a place as any.
“On the afternoon of January 25 I milked early and trucked the cows out. My brother Andrew had organised for the cows to go the farm of Alan and Judy Reardon who had retired from milking. They were fantastic and really we can’t praise them high enough.”
With the threat of a wet winter hanging over him and no milking pasture left standing, the family made the decision to lease the Lockington farm for a year.
The kids were taken out of school and while they were all very apprehensive about leaving, they soon settled into life and both Stuart and Cecelia agree everyone adjusted pretty well.
“In hindsight we probably could have come back in spring but we made a commitment and we wanted the kids to finish the school year out, before they returned back to their old school.”
Today things are looking much brighter for the family.
The cows are milking well herd numbers have increased. Stuart has re-sown 16 hectares of summer pasture and 24 acres of lucerne. He has a worker to help him out and he is pretty keen to crank things up.
“In a way staying away for 12 months has felt like a bit of a break and a maybe I needed a change. “Looking back it feels like it all went in a blink of an eye but it has certainly been an experience we’ll never forget,” Stuart said.

WHEN Allison Potter had her baby son, Logan, 13 months ago, she knew that she couldn’t continue her career as a Murray Goulburn field officer.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like her role as a field officer at MG’s Leongatha branch, but she wanted to spend time with her new baby.

But at the same time, she didn’t see herself restricted to the sole role of motherhood.

“I enjoyed my five years as a field officer but when I had Logan, I knew that I didn’t want to go back,” she said.

But the next question was: “What else can I do?”

The answer unfolded mid last year when Allison and her husband, Aaron, and her brother, Rod, went into a dairy farming partnership.

The sharefarming contract on Allison and Rod’s parent’s farm at Poowing North in South Gippsland expired in July and the option became available for the brother and sister (and brother-in-law) act to be set in motion.

Now,the sibling partnership leases the 500ha property of Graeme and Marjorie Goode and they milk 300 cows in an 18-unit swingover shed.

The partnership has brought together an interesting set of skills. Rod,27, and Allison, 29, and another sister, Christine, 30, were all brought up on the farm and did their share of helping out as they grew up.

Rod worked on the farm for some time after leaving school but left to work for contractors, driving heavy machinery.

He also spent some time in Scotland doing similar contracting work before returning home where he set up his own small fencing contracting business.

Allison studied at university and moved on to become an MG field officer while Aaron, whose grandparents were dairy farmers, continues to drive milk tanker for transport contractors, McColls.

He is also an emergency milker on the farm when the need for help arises.

Christine is also available if an emergency situation arises.

The decision to give dairying a go was not a difficult one as they all brought experience of one sort or another to the table.

The first task was to find some cows. The previous sharefarmers owned their own herd so the trio had to start from scratch.

But luck was on their side and they were able to buy a mixed herd of 300 cows from a farmer who had decided to retire.

“It wasn’t too bad to be able to buy a good herd of cows only 10 minutes down the road,” said Allison.

For Rod, taking on farm work was a relatively easy step.

“I had always liked the farm and I enjoy the hands-on role,” he said.

Allison keeps the book work in order and takes her share of the milking roster.

“I actually like milking the cows. It’s a part of the day I enjoy,” she said.

Aaron’s tanker driving provides a valuable off-farm income and he still enjoys the work.

“I don’t mind driving but perhaps one day in the future I might come home to the farm to work.”

He also helps out in the milking shed to give his wife and brother-in-law a break.

Allison’s experience as a field officer has also taught her a variety of lessons and she said being in the role enabled her to be more aware of the whole dairying picture.

Her biggest fear is the day when a former colleague comes to the farm to conduct an audit.

“I don’t know who will be more nervous … me or the field officer.”

While the farm itself covers a large area, the cows are milked off about 200ha with the balance being used for cropping and a small beef herd.

Allison said the 300 cows now being milked was possibly the high point for the farm with the limiting factor being the size of the dairy.

In the meantime, the family partnership is still getting on its feet. But the trio remain thankful to Graeme and Marjorie for the chance to make a start in dairying.

“We know a lot of young people who would give anything to have been given the opportunity that we have. We understand that situation and we appreciate it,” said Allison.

PERSISTENCE is a key trait for any dairy farmer and Kane Smollenaars has it by the vat full.
Consider this. He left school to undertake a dairy apprenticeship but when he completed his time, there was no work available.
He then took up a plumbing apprentice through his father’s company but all the while he was a weekend relief milker.
Once his plumbing apprenticeship was over, he took on dairy sharefarming and leasing roles before buying his own farm at Airly, just south of Sale, in April 2006.
It had been owned by an uncle who had operated a dairy farm but he had suffered an illness and was forced to lease the property before selling it to Kane.
“It hadn’t been looked after for about eight years and when I arrived I reckon you could have cut logs out of the thistles that were here,” Kane recalled.
Fences and laneways were virtually non-existent and as for the dairy shed … “I walked into the dairy with an angle grinder,” he said.
Once much of the farm had been cleaned up, more persistence was needed as a flood ravaged the Macalister Irrigation District in mid-2007. There wasn’t a part of the farm that wasn’t under water and the house and dairy were inundated.
Then this year, the farm was hit by another flood … not as bad as 2007 but there was a damage bill just the same.
Through it all, Kane has taken the roller-coaster ride in his stride.
Now he is milking 215 cows in a 10-double-up shed and runs a pasture-based operation that has grass thick and lush and spreading to all corners of the 88ha property.
Kane, 34, is a bachelor and the workload falls squarely on his shoulders. He likes it that way. He is his own boss and he likes to do things his own way.
Kane said he always wanted to be a dairy farmer. He grew up with a family plumbing influence but he enjoyed the chances during school vacations to spend time with uncles who ran dairy farms.
But he maintains that the four years he worked as a plumber have proven to be a valuable asset for the demands on dairy farming life.
“On reflection,if I had my time all over,I’d do it a again. There are so many aspects of farm life that benefit from having the skills I got while plumbing.”
Kane said he made the move to Airly with his eyes wide open. He already had a herd of his own which he milked while sharefarming and leasing at nearby Nambrok and he was confident he could turn the new farm around.
There were new fences to build, pastures to re-sow and new troughs to be installed.
New equipment was needed for the dairy and the milking plant was purchased at a local clearing sale while other necessary equipment was bought from a variety of sources.
Kane said the 2007 flood was a setback.
“I knew the farm was flood prone but 2007 was a bad flood. I had the cows off the farm for a fortnight and there was a lot of fencing to be replaced,” he said.
But Kane remains philosophical about such events and acknowledges that the fertile soils of the region are a result of generations of flooding that has brought silt from higher ground.
“Generally when we get a flood here the water is on an off very quickly but 2007 was a bit different,” he said.
Kane said he was keen to take advantage of the great potential the farm had to grow pasture.
He is committed to a strong fertilizer, watering and grazing management program and has struck up a loyal association with a local contractor who does most of the harvesting work.
Further improvements are planned to increase pasture growth and the most important is a laser-grading project.
About 8ha of the farm has been laser levelled and Kane has a plan in place to increase the lasered area to more than 70ha. He intends to keep about 16ha aside for cropping.
There are also plans to reduce herd numbers from the current 215 to about 170. He believes this will enable him to cull for quality in the herd and also provide a much more manageable number for his single person operation.
Kane concedes that the lifestyle can get lonely at times but he still enjoys the work and the rewards he is now getting thanks to firmer milk prices.
“It’s a job where you can do an 18 hour day or an eight hour day. It’s up to you,” he said.

MURRAY Goulburn’s newly appointed managing director, Gary Helou, has hit the ground running with promises to take on the co-operative’s cost base and drive efficiencies and operating excellence.
He said MG would become more strategic and less reactive.
He outlined a five-point plan going forward which included: Simplifying organisational structures, upgrading people’s skills, lowering the cost structure, reshaping the business portfolio and eliminating underperforming assets
Gary said the key to the new approach to the business would be to enhance consumer value by making products at the lowest possible cost which could then be sold at the highest possible price to ensure the best possible milk price to our supplier shareholders
In a positive message for suppliers and employees, he said changes would be made under his leadership with a strong focus on operating excellence and dairy foods innovations.
“We need to get more commercial in our approach,” he said. “We must match and beat the commercial position of our big global competitors.
“We can’t afford to be a minor player in our chosen key dairy markets. When people think dairy foods I want them to immediately think of MG. To consumers and customers, I want MG to be the number one choice dairy foods destination”
Gary outlined his plans for the future, both in marketing and operations, when he spoke at last month’s round of suppliers’ meetings and to meetings of employees at MG’s head office at Brunswick and Parkville.
He said he planned to target a 25 per cent cut in operational costs to free up $100 million in savings to be returned to farmers in milk price and to provide investment funds to grow the business.
“There will be a big push to re-vitalise the look and feel of our current products as well as an investment in launching fairy food innovation,” he said.
“I want MG people to feel proud of what they have. We are up against some big opponents but we have a fantastic company owned by you,the farmers. It is a fantastic business and it can be made a lot better.”
Gary said that innovation would be a key word at Murray Goulburn
He said he would drive a stronger link between customers and consumers and MG. We will invest behind winning product ideas and major customer alliances.
“Our returns come from our customers and our consumers and they will give us more growth opportunities if we provide them with compelling value built on our unique dairy foods insights.”
He also issued an assurance to suppliers about the value of Murray Goulburn to the dairy industry in Australia.
He said that without MG,dairy farmers would be receiving significantly less than they were getting now.
He said farmers had to understand that other competitors would only pay what they had to pay for their raw materials.

By ROBERT WHITE

ROBERT Henningsen has 480 cows on the family farm just north of Mount Gambier. And he doesn’t milk any of them. Neither does anyone else.
Yet his milk production is better than ever before.
It may sound like a riddle but the answer is simple: robots!
There are seven milking robots at the farm and another is on order.
According to Robert, robots are the way of the future. Less stress for the operator and the cow, more efficient in-bail feeding and cows being milked when they want to be milked.
He says there are countless other benefits but the bottom line is that the bottom line is looking very encouraging.
The investment in the robots was around $2 million and Robert is confident he will recoup that cost in five years.
‘The real story is that the cows are giving more milk and there’s no stress for them or me. It works well as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
The Henningsens have been on the farm since 1983 when Robert’s parents, Des and Gladys made the move to the property.
Des had grown up on dairy farms in the Mount Gambier region and had followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps.
Robert was only 17 when the family moved to their current farm and they built up the herd to 270 cows which were milked in a 10 double-up shed.
But there was scope for a bigger operation and the family had to decide their next step. The farm could certainly milk more cows but the dairy wouldn’t cope.
Des was keen on a 50-unit rotary but Robert pushed for the robots. He had seen them operating on another farm south of Mount Gambier and was confident they were the future of dairying.
Des is still not sure they made the right decision but as far as Robert is concerned, there is no other way to milk cows.
In fact he is now planning to increase numbers to around 600 and a new robot has been ordered for the space that was left for future expansion in the shed.
Robert said it would have cost around $1.2 million for a 50-unit rotary shed.
“And then we would have needed to employ people to run it,” he said.
Robert estimated he could have been looking at a wages bill of up to $200,000 a year with a rotary. The savings in this area alone would pay for the difference between the robots and the rotary is less than five years.
Robert does employ part time staff to help out with the calves but he carries out the rest of the farm work himself.
If one of the robots has a problem, he gets an automatic warning and can return to the shed and fix it. In the meantime, the cows are still being milked in the remaining robots.
The robots were installed in June 2010 and Robert says some of his cows are doing up to 70 litres a day. Heifers are also exceeding expectations.
“It’s all about the cows being less stressed and milking when they want to be milked,” he said.
“They come into the shed and there’s no fighting for positions because there’s never any real rush. There is no pecking order in the herd so those cows that had been slow to come into the dairy in the past can now come in whenever they like.”
Robert said the cows were also fed their rations of grain over a longer period of time. Instead of getting the ration twice a day, the cows in the Henningsen shed are receiving their allocation in three or four feeds.
“I think this helps the cows digest the feed better. They can then return to the paddock and continue eating pasture much easier.”
Robert said it had not been difficult to train the cows to use the robots.
“It probably took about three weeks before some of them got used to what was going on. The heifers just follow the older cows,” he said.
“We did have a few teething problems when we first started,but that happens with most new technology. It seems to have sorted itself out now.”
The technology involved in the robots also allows Robert to check on each cow at the move of a computer mouse.
He can monitor any amount of information on each individual cow and an alert is sounded every time mastitis is indicated.
He can also monitor production per cow; can group them into age groups to check production levels; can easily check the best and worst performers … the amount of information is seemingly endless.
The computerised system will not allow a cow to be milked before it has had a five hour break.
“It really is the way of the future, especially for large herds,” Robert said.