22 | nzdairy Cows a ‘different animal’ with robotics Richard Loader “The big benefit though is that there’s no afternoon milking. I can go away all day and come back 11.00 o’clock at night. It takes all the pressure out of the day. In the past there was a rush to get everything done before the afternoon milking and now that doesn’t happen.” Deep in the Southland Plains, in the small rural township of Dacre between Invercargill and Edendale, six Lely robots are quietly working away, milking the Dinnington’s herd of 350 Friesian cows. Four years ago Bruce Dinnington had the vision to incorporate the robotic system into the new 360-bale free stall barn that he was building and says the system has proven to be brilliant for animal and man. “They come in to get milked whenever they feel like it, nobody’s out there bringing them in as a herd. The major benefit is the health of the cows. It has significantly reduced lame feet. Fertility has increased and somatic cell count has dropped. They are now so stress-free and quiet — virtually a different animal.” Bruce says the cows adapted to the Lely Astronaut milking robots very quickly — far quicker than the farmer, he adds. “The more we learned to leave the cows alone the quicker they adapted. For about three quarters of them, once introduced to the robot you never saw them again. Once they found the grain and molasses in the feed bin you didn’t have to encourage them to come in again.” Once governed by early morning and afternoon milkings Bruce has been liberated, enjoying a completely different lifestyle. “No longer do you have to get up at three in the morning to bring the cows in and I don’t use an alarm anymore. The milk filter sock has to be changed before the wash goes through at 9.30am, so that’s my only deadline to meet. “ I can watch the rugby till 2.00am and get up at 8.00am — it makes no difference. The big benefit though is that there’s no afternoon milking. I can go away all day and come back 11.00 o’clock at night. It takes all the pressure out of the day. In the past there was a rush to get everything done before the afternoon milking and now that doesn’t happen. You can spend more time doing the jobs and make a better job of them.” The barn that houses the robots is the first hybrid barn in the world and incorporates a grazing system to keep the cows under the one roof during unfavorable weather. “The cows go into the barn in the middle of April for the nights and they will be in there every night till the end of September, weather dependent, and have free access to the robots all under one roof. Four years ago Bruce Dinnington had the vision to incorporate the robotic system into the new 360-bale free stall barn. DAIRY PEOPLE » Bruce Dinnington “The dry cows stay in the barn 24-hours a day during the winter and calve in the spring. When it’s wet during winter time the milking cows are inside twenty-four hours a day, but if it’s fine and the weather conditions are OK the milking cows can go outside during the day, coming back in at night. Balage is fed inside the barn and nothing is fed outside.” During the summer a series of automatic drafting gates controls where the cows can go. A collar around their neck has a transponder that registers the cow as they go through the drafting gate determining where they go. “At the moment they’re walking straight into the back of the robots where they get milked, whereas in the winter they access the robots from the barn. The farm is split up into four blocks and roughly every six hours there is a gate change. When the cows leave the robots and exit the shed they get drafted off to a new block for a fresh break of grass.” Bruce’s grandfather first bought the farm in 1949 and his father Alan took it over in the ‘70s converting it to dairy. Bruce’s parents — Alan and Noeline — remain active on the farm and have embraced the technology. “Dad started off milking cows by hand, then went to a step-through and then herringbone and then onto rotary and now robotics, so there has been huge change throughout his life time.” 0800 50 22 50 www.nind.co.nz Southland, Otago, Central Otago • Turnkey Dairy Shed Packages • Electrical Services • Milking Machine Testing • Protrack Installation • 'DLU\ (IŴXHQW 6ROXWLRQV • Engineering & Fitting Services • Milfos & WestfaliaSurge Milking • Plant Servicing & Consumables • Water Filtration Systems Proud to support Bruce Dinnington www.rogersmotorcycles.co.nz Contact Kevin and the team at Rogers Motorcycles. 84 Leet Street, Invercargill, LMVD. P 03 218-9584. Sales AH Kevin McDonald 027-678-5671 OPEN SAT 10.00am-Noon Proud to support Bruce Dinnington
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