"More milk and less work with a better lifestyle, it really is a no brainer"

Bobby Noonan began milking with his Lely Astronaut A4 robotic milking system in May 2013 and is a liquid milk supplier to Kerry Co-Op. He is milking 65 cows that are currently producing 30 litres at 4.15 butterfat and 3.39 in milk protein and are being milked on average 3 times a day by the robot.

Grazing and buffer feeding with the Lely Astronaut

Bobby farms 115 acres in total with a 35 acre grazing block around the farmyard. He is using a 50/50 grazing and buffer feeding system and feeds a mixture of grass silage, maize meal and soya hulls at the feed fence. The grazing season begins in early March weather permitting and continues until late October. Due to the limited size of the grazing block Bobby manages grass carefully with the aid of Lely Grazeway gate and uses a strip grazing system to ensure fresh grass is always available ahead of his cows.

Feed to Yield System

With his herd averaging 10,000 litres Bobby maximises his use of the feed to yield system on the Lely Astronaut milking robot. Cows are being fed on average 5.5kg’s of concentrates through the system. “It’s an excellent way of feeding and ensures that all cows receive the correct amount of feed depending on their milk production. With the cows now being fed smaller quantities of meal but on a more consistent basis, rumen health is much better and the herd is far quieter and content.” notes Bobby.

“We spent 20 years building up the herd to where it is today. Since installing the Lely Astronaut I have increased cow numbers by 10% and we have also increased milk production by a further 1,000 litres per cow to our current 10,000 litre average. So we have a lot more milk in the tank and we have also reduced our labour requirements. The first thing I check in the morning is the Lely T4C (Time For Cows) which is the computer software program. It is very easy to use and I check the minutes chewing her cud, activity, somatic cell count and cow weights daily. You can really see what is going on with your cows and any cow that needs attention is flagged up immediately. We have far more flexibility now both from a working and social life perspective. More milk and less work with a better lifestyle, it really is a no brainer.” he added. 

Return on investment

“Lely has the best milking robot and the best back up service so it really was an easy decision for me. The initial investment in the robot will be paid for by November 2017 so the installation of the Astronaut has paid for itself very quickly and has had a very positive impact on my farm and lifestyle.” concludes Bobby.

Farm background

Bobby Noonan is currently milking 65 cows with his Lely Astronaut A4 robotic installed in May 2013.

Why Lely?

Farmers all over the world make choices about how they set up and run their farms. Every day, we help them make the best choices for themselves and their farms. We do this by providing advice and innovative solutions that contribute to efficient farm management. For sustainable milk and meat production. Present and future.