The long journey to robots

THE LONG JOURNEY

to robots

Colin, Adam, Hannah, Adrian, Mandy and Mark Dee on their Macorna farm.

It might have been fi ve years in the making, but the Dee family from Clydevale Holsteins at Macorna in northern Victoria has fi nally 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 fi rst 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 fi rst 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 benefi ts 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 loafi ng 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 offi ce, staff room 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 effl uent 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 buff er 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 confi dent it will support their

The barn houses eight robotic milkers.

Hannah Dee is currently completing an agri-business course at university and spends time in the barn helping out.

herd and business for generations to come.

On May 19, after a 2.5 year construction period (including a 12-month break halfway through) the fi rst cow was milked. It has been an absolute whirlwind for Adrian and sons Colin, Kevin, Adam, Mark, daughter Clare and Mark’s wife Mandy ever since.

“The fi rst three days were horrendous but we just knew it had to be done so we just buckled down and did it,” Adrian said.

“We had lots of help from Lely, Riverland and family and friends, but we certainly didn’t get much sleep in those fi rst few days.”

Pushing each cow into the robot for the fi rst couple of milkings was a physical feat itself, especially considering some of the big-framed cows weigh more than 900 kg.

“If we didn’t have so much support from people helping us over the fi rst week we would have never got some of those big girls in,” Adam said.

The fi rst cow to be milked through the system was the family’s prized and highly successful show cow Hullabaloo Bolton Sundae EX95, who despite being regularly handled and dolled up for shows, refused to enter the robot.

“In the end Adam went and got a rope and he had to lead her in,” Adrian laughed.

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Like the majority of cows, it only took a couple of milkings for Sundae to get accustomed to the new milking process. Two weeks later, a quarter of the 480-cow herd were fi nding their way into the robots without any assistance at all.

There is nothing stopping a cow from entering the robots as evidenced by one cow who had 14 trips through in one day, however they will be rejected and only milked after a fi vehour period has passed.

“This particular cow had worked out she got a tiny drop of grain every time she went through,” Adrian said.

“Our fi rst heifer to calve breezed through and we have one recently calved cow giving 62 litres.”

The data the family receives from each milking will be critical for management moving forward and includes: per quarter litres, cell count and conductivity to help with mastitis detection.

They have also found the scale feature interesting — surprised by how heavy some of their cows actually are.

“It is interesting to see how their weight fl uctuates depending on how much milk they have and how often they get milked,” Mandy said.

“The system currently doesn’t test for fat and protein so we will still have to herd test but we are hoping that might become a feature down the track,” Adam said.

The family members have noticed production has already increased and they are looking forward to seeing the benefi ts it will bring over the long, hot summer months.

Mark and Mandy’s daughter, Hannah, is currently completing an agri-business course at university but she has spent every day of the past few weeks in the barn helping out.

While Hannah is not sure where the future will lead her, she is passionate about cows and hasn’t ruled out taking over the reins of the dairy business one day.

“My brother Ryan likes tractors and machinery and I like the herd side of things,” she said.

Despite building the dairy in the middle of a global pandemic, there weren’t too many hold ups and the construction phase was relatively problem-free — including moving 135,000 cubic metres of dirt over a couple of months just to set the foundations.

“Everything was pre-ordered so we were pretty lucky and didn’t have to wait for anything much,” Adrian said.

“We tried to use and support local business as often as possible and while we are all glad construction is over and fi nished, I don’t think I could ever go through something like that again.

“And I must add a huge thanks to our project manager James Green from Greencon who did a fantastic and professional job planning and constructing the barn.”

All wastewater is recycled, travelling through an effl uent separator before it enters the two-dam 15 Ml system.

The state-of-the-art barn comfortably houses and milks 500 high-producing Holstein cows.