IT’s a brave decision to invest heavily in any industry, but it has undoubtedly paid off for the Colquhouns – Blair and Judy and son Gregor and his wife Fay – who are in the process of renewing their old dilapidated dairy buildings at Dendoldrum, Inverbervie.

Over the past three years they have supervised the construction of a new state of the art complex comprising a 300 x 118ft environmentally controlled cow shed complete with four Lely robot milkers. But it is the resultant improved levels of efficiency and production that are more impressive with the their Bervie herd having gone on to win the Agriscot WWS Scottish Dairy Herd of the Year, last year.

Cow numbers have been upsized from 200 to 350 cows while total milk production has risen from 2.0mlitres/year to nearer 3.5m, all of which are sold through Tesco.

“We’d been needing a new dairy unit for almost 20 years, as the old building was affecting cow health and maintenance costs were increasing all the time,” said Gregor. “It was a stage of either get out of dairying completely or make major improvements, but we enjoy dairying and opted to go for a completely new set up focusing on improved ventilation, cow health and cow comfort.”

Prior to the new set up, their 200-cow herd was already productive, producing similar rolling herd averages to its current level of 10,500kg on a twice daily milking regime at 3.8%BF and 3.15P with 70SCC and 8Bactoscan. It was cow health that was more of a problem along with the issue of how to construct a new building where the older shed already stood.

Initially, in the early summer of 2006, the old 200ft Mootel wooden kennel-type shed was demolished, just as the cows had been block dried at grass. From then on it was a case of all systems go to get the base of the new building constructed within a matter of months before the majority of cows calved again in August, although the old parlour was and remains up and running for older cows unsuitable for the robots.

In contrast to the old barn, the new environmentally monitored building has a roof pitch of 22.5 degrees to create a chimney effect. It also boasts De Boer Lumitherm side curtains – controlled by by a weather station on the roof – which make small adjustments in the amount of air and light permitted through the side walls to ensure consistent, light, airy surroundings.

The four Lely robots are positioned two at either side of the shed. At present this allows the cows to be split into four different individual herds of about 60 according to when they calved. The remaining 50-60 lame and mastitis cows/older and slower milking cows are milked in the old Alfa Laval herringbone parlour at the end of the shed.

“I looked at rapid exit parlours or robots, but we went with the robots because labour had always been an issue in the past. However, we have not saved as much labour as I first thought we might but we do get the third milking for nothing and the job is a lot less physical. The hours are not as unsocial either,” said Gregor who also works part-time for Harbro as a dairy feed consultant.

“Apart from anything else if I was a cow, I’d opt for the robotic system. The cows get freedom to decide as to when they’re milked and as a result they appear a lot calmer. The first three weeks training them to use the robot were a bit of a nightmare but after that they were fine – they took to the robots easier than us,” he added pointing out that cows were directed towards the robot as soon as they’d calved and for the first three weeks, were made to go through it three times a day.

However, although the cows have taken to it easier than expected, there have been a few teething problems with one robot in particular being affected by malfunctions in the arm of the machine caused by faulty compressors.

The arm is controlled by dried compressed air and when moisture gets in, valves don’t open and shut correctly which sounds a simple problem to solve but it has taken three years and tested the patience of everyone involved.

Nevertheless, the last four months have been better and Gregor is confident the problem has been solved. The past four months has also coincided with very little mastitis whereas before, when the arms were not working, cows were not getting milked when they should have been, resulting in higher levels of mastitis.

Read more in the March 20 issue of The Scottish Farmer