Flexible farming with the Lely Astronaut A5

 

A Wexford farming family has returned to milking thanks to the efficiency and flexibility provided by the Lely Astronaut A5. Tara Whitty farms with her parents Michael and Gabrielle, along with husband Sean and sister Chloe on the family holding at Wilkinstown, just outside Wexford Town. A psychiatric nurse, Tara became a mother for the first-time last November so time has naturally become more precious in the interim.

Striking the optimum work/life balance has become all the more pronounced in recent months, with Lely’s peace of mind milking technology truly coming to the fore from Tara’s perspective. Having returned to dairy farming in August 2021 following a 15-year hiatus, the Whittys decided to ‘go robotic’ rather than returning to the traditional milking parlour system they had previously worked with.

“Effectively, we were new entrants given how much time had passed since the last time we’d been milking,” said Tara.

The importance of flexibility 

“So, this really was a new venture for us and something we gave a lot of thought to before we decided to give it a go again. Given that I work off-farm as well, we had to consider flexibility as a major decision-making factor when it came to resuming milking. 

“Based on our research, and having seen it in action online and on display at the National Ploughing Championships, it soon became clear that automation was the way forward and that standing in a parlour again wasn’t really for us - and that’s where Lely came into play. After contacting Lely, a member of their team came out to us for a chat and then had a look around the farm to see if it was suitable and what structural work, if any, we were required to do prior to installing a robot, improving roadways and so on.”

Tara continued: “We were also brought to another farm to see the Astronaut A5 in action and that’s what really sold it for us. So once we’d decided to take it on, we built a new five-bay shed and also increased our roadway system to accommodate the Lely Grazeway. The Astronaut A5 has added so much flexibility both in terms of how we farm but how we live in general. We started off with 70 heifers with one robot but that number has increased to 130 cows since we installed the second robot in 2022.

Free cow traffic is the key to Lely’s market-leading automatic milking system and provides the most natural way possible to milk. Not only is it designed with the cow’s freedom to eat, drink, rest and be milked in mind, the Astronaut A5 also prioritises the cow’s well-being and level of comfort during milking.

A-B-C Grazing 

“We run an A-B-C system here, which involves the use of three paddocks, three times a day – every eight hours – which ensures that when cows skip a block, they have first access to the newest block, meaning they’ll get the best quality grass available,” said Tara.

“So, the cows come in, are milked and then move onto a new paddock, which is a huge help to us in terms of grassland management – and it’s amazing to see how the cows have adapted to the system and just how intelligent they are, coming in through the Grazeway at 2am, then again at 10am and at 6pm each evening.

“Having cows housed isn’t easy and once you have them out full-time, the risk of mastitis, and other potential illnesses immediately drops. Our average cell count for the year is under 100 and that’s largely due to the robot providing us with an udder health report, early mastitis detection and heat detection, so we can divert cows in heat for drafting before calling the AI man – and that’s all thanks to the robot. Cases of lameness are also greatly reduced.

“We’re now into our third year with the Astronaut A5. Last year, we produced 512 kilos of solids, which we’re very pleased with. Thanks to the production report on the computer, I can assess where we are in terms of solids and milk speeds and it’s also a huge help when it comes to breeding. Protein is also something we’re working on so I pay a good deal of attention to those reports.”

Tara added: “We have three wires to change on the robot each day, which is a huge labour saver for us. It means we can get other things on the farm seen to, such as bringing in the silage while the milking is going on, which is another huge benefit to having the Astronaut A5 in operation. And we couldn’t have gone up to 130 cows without the Lely system.”

Increased cow comfort 

Thanks to its silent hybrid arm and improved teat detection system, the Lely Astronaut A5 has increased cow comfort and reduced the farming family’s daily workload.

It’s I-flow offers unhindered entry, leading cows more easily to their milking turn. It also increases both the number of times the cow is milked and the milk yield.

The open construction of the Astronaut A5’s cow box ensures that the individual cow and the rest of the herd are never out of each other’s sight. This natural interaction prevents stress during milking, meaning the cows release their milk with more ease, thus increasing yield.

Lely research has revealed that milking time per cow is reduced by 4% in the case of Astronaut robots with I-flow compared to previous models with no straight route.

The support provided by Lely has proven second to none, according to Tara. “I’m not particularly mechanically-minded but whenever I have to call Lely for support and advice, I know I’m going to be told what I need to do whenever I pick up the phone, which is a brilliant level of support to be able to tap into. The discussion groups with other farmers have also proven very informative and that’s another great resource at my disposal.”

“Amazed with the change.” 

Introducing the Astronaut A5 has brought about big changes for Tara’s parents while her grandfather, who milked when Tara was a child, has been “amazed” by the on-farm advancements Lely have spearheaded.  “My parents have adapted to both the robots and the app really well; shortly after I had the baby, I came out to Mam and Dad one day and they had dried off a bunch of cows thanks to the information provided by the app so it’s been enormously helpful and they’ve really embraced it. They can see why introducing a Lely system was the sensible thing to do. And my grandfather has been really impressed by the technology given how reliable and user-friendly it is.” 

Tara concluded: “There’s still a great deal of work that has to be done on the farm every day, but to see the robots working so efficiently and the cows moving so freely is proof that we’ve made a good decision and one that we’ll benefit from for many years to come. I know I still have a lot to learn but the Lely Astronaut A5 is a reliable teacher and is helping us as a family to make better on-farm decisions.”