“We were pleasantly surprised at how straightforward it was to adapt the existing buildings at Cotton Farm to suit an automated approach,” says Richard. “We had to move feed barriers, replace cubicles, take out the old parlour and install the robots. With sound advice from our builders and Fullwood, everything went smoothly.”
The new unit was stocked with a mix of heifers and second-lactation cows from the existing Lichfield-based herd, and a small number of purchased cows. And while the cows settled in well, there were teething problems when it came to feeding.
“The default feed settings on the robot were too low, with the dairy nuts feeding out at a rate of just 6g per second,” explains Richard. The cows were unable to eat enough at each milking, so he took advice from ForFarmers’ Roger Marley and Clive Slawson and they tweaked the rate to 12g per second, which works much better.
“Ensuring the correct feeding curves were in place was also a challenge but, again, Roger and Clive were able to help with this,” adds Richard. The cows are now fed ForFarmers dairy concentrate through the robots, with a TMR comprising home-grown grass silage, maize silage, and a bespoke 27% protein ForFarmers blend fed down the feed barrier.
“Milk is supplied to Arla, so quality is important. With individual average daily yields as high as 36 litres, we have also included specialist feed buffers in the ration to help maintain high milk quality,” says Roger Marley. Cows are fed 8kg of concentrate through the robot during early lactation and after 100 days in milk move to a base feeding rate of maintenance plus 20 litres, with extra feed allocated according to yield. Ensuring cows leave their cubicles to eat and visit the robots is key to the success of any automated system, so Richard and his sons have put measures in place to keep the cows motivated.