Milking

Retrofitting Robots for a better life, the Arnold family

"So, we had 2 options, build a 50-unit rotary from scratch, or retrofit robots into the old 16-unit herringbone" - Ally Arnold

Meet Ally and Robert Arnold from Lilydale - Tasmania

Fourth generation farmer Robert and wife Ally Arnold are innovative dairy farmers from Lilydale Tasmania. After originally milking in a 16 aside herringbone for 20 years, the two bought their neighbours farm which had another herringbone.

They planned to milk across both dairies however, Robert remarked that they would had to of spent "a fair bit of money" to start the old herringbone back up again. To manage costs and improve their work-life balance, Robert and Ally decided to retrofit 3 Lely Astronaut A5 milking robots into the existing infastructure of their neighbour's farm.

Explore the possibility of retrofits

The Retrofit Process

Robotic retrofits leverage existing infrastructure to effectively lower expenses while maintaining current lane and paddock configurations.

After facing staff issues and realising their herd had outgrown their herringbone system, Robert & Ally Arnold decided to retrofit three robots into their existing setup.

Before and after retrofit

Transitioning cows from a herringbone to robots

Robert and Ally shared insights with us about the seamless transition their cows experienced when transitioning from conventional to robotic milking systems. After three days of running cows through the robots they got used to them, two weeks onwards they were moving from the paddocks by themselves and after four weeks, "everything got easier".

Ally explains that "They were walking through the night by four weeks, which is the goal. That's when you know you've hit the jackpot, when you know they're walking while you're in bed." She further told us how proud she was of her watching them adapt, and that to this day it is still exciting watching them use the system.

Partners of the Arnold family

Meet Lely Center Tasmania

Lely Center Tasmania, also known as Dairy Maintenance & Installation, has branches in Smithton and Launceston. They spend every day making farmer's lives easier with innovative solutions and tailored services. Craig and Sheree Stokes established DMI in 2005 at their home in Smithton. The family company has grown over time with Craig training up many technicians and teaching them the knowledge he has gained from his years in the dairy industry. He began working in the dairy industry back in 1988 and is still very passionate about the industry to this day.