Fullerton Family Open Day - 24th April 2025

The Fullerton family has taken a major step towards improving efficiency and cow comfort on their farm by installing a Lely Vector automatic feeding system alongside their four Lely A5 robotic milking machines. The combination of these two systems has significantly reduced the time spent on daily routines, giving the family more control and flexibility in managing their herd of 240 milkings cows.

Currently, the cows are averaging between 3.2 and 3.3 visits per day to the milking robots, producing an impressive 40 to 41 kg of milk per cow, and producing an impressive 9,400 kg across the four robots.

When it came to choosing milking technology, Sean Fullerton explained:

"The decision was between investing in a bigger parlour or going with robots. Labour for a third milking was an issue, so we went for the robots—and we’ve no regrets."

Before installing the Vector, Kevin was responsible for all the feeding, a task that took between 3 and 3.5 hours every day of the week. The family reached a point where they either had to hire another person or automate the process—and chose to invest in feeding automation.

Now, Kevin can plan several days ahead, and if the Vector kitchen is fully stocked, the system can feed for up to three days without intervention. This flexibility has been a game changer for the family’s work-life balance.

“We liked the idea of the feed being scanned regularly,” Sean noted. “And having a solid block of silage in the kitchen rather than loose material in hoppers really appealed to us. Since starting in August, we’ve had no issues with silage heating.”