DAIRY
THE LONG JOURNEY
to robots I
t might have been five years in the making, but the Dee family from Clydevale Holsteins at Macorna in northern Victoria has finally realised a dream of building a state-of-the-art compost barn complete with robotic milkers.
The barn is a long way from the family’s first foray into dairying at Clyde in 1975, with Adrian and Cheryl Dee milking 27 cows in a six-unit walkthrough and a 40 gallon milk contract. “I really see robots as the way of the future and they are certainly a multigenerational investment,” Adrian said. “The first time I saw them was in Canada in 2008 and they impressed me then and they have certainly come a long away.” The state-of-the art barn will comfortably milk 500 high-producing Holstein cows, and the family is looking forward to the multitude of benefits it will bring to the herd. Sadly, Cheryl died before construction began — but she did see the initial plans and was 100 per cent behind the concept. Sitting on about a hectare, the 200 m by 60 m compost barn houses eight robotic milkers, divided into four separate spaces with a wide central
feed alley, complete with 24-hour access to a total mixed ration (TMR) and a robotic Lely Juno feed pusher. A climate-controlled sensor activates fans and sprinklers when required and, while the cows do have access to an outside area, they seem to prefer spending their day chewing their cud and loafing on the soft-pack compost. The compost is a work in progress and the family is learning when to turn it and how best to manage it. The barn includes a designated vet area, complete with a crush and AI facility, along with an office, staffroom and upstairs viewing platform. Clean water is delivered via two dams with a total storage capacity of 35 megalitres and all wastewater is recycled, travelling through an effluent separator before it enters the two-dam 15 Ml system. The 32,000 litre vat holds more volume than the tanker that used to pick up their milk and includes a 1600 litre buffer vessel for additional storage because the robots run 24 hours a day. The scale of the barn is simply immense and has to be seen to be believed, and the family members are more than confident it will support their
Colin, Adam, Hannah, Adrian, Mandy and Mark Dee on their Macorna farm.
The barn houses eight robotic milkers.
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