THERE can be no doubting that magnetic lure of the Royal Highland Agricultural Show, which year in year out attracts tens of thousands of farming folks from all corners of the UK either as exhibitors or spectators – and the Scotts from Shacklehill in Ayrshire, are no different.

Well known dairy cattle enthusiasts, Robbie and Margo and their two young sons, Rory (12) and Kyle (8), have enjoyed notable success over the past year at several events to include AgriScot, the Dairy Expo at Carlisle, and more recently at Catrine, Ayr and Largs Shows.

However, with their Nethervalley pedigree black and white and red and white Holstein and Jersey herds very much in their infancy, the family is looking forward to Scotland’s Royal Show mostly as spectators, although all eyes will be on young Rory and Kyle Scott who will be competing in the young handlers competition.

Part owners of last year’s second prize senior heifer, Nethervalley Glauco Sara, with Blythbridge Holsteins, the family felt unable to exhibit at this year’s four-day extravaganza, due to their ever expanding dairy unit at Shacklehill, which only last week saw the introduction of a second Lely robotic milker.

Add to that, Margo’s extremely busy work schedule as one of only 25 lawyers accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Agricultural Law in Scotland, and a partner with Lockharts Solicitors in Ayr, and the couple, who rely heavily on assistance from Robbie’s parents, Billy and Sheila Scott, opted to give this year’s show ring a miss.

“One of the reasons we got back into pedigree dairy breeding was to show at the Highland as it is always an amazing event. You get to compete with some of the best dairy cattle in Scotland and south of the Border and, the socialising is second to none,” said Robbie, who only started milking cows in his own right at Shacklehill at the end of December 2016.

“It would be great if we could show a couple of cows, but it’s almost a week away if you’re showing dairy cattle, and we’ve just got too much going on at home. The organisers would get far more exhibitors if the cattle could go home after being exhibited, but with so few people working on farms, taking a week away from home is extremely difficult for anyone now.”

With the family’s pedigree Nethervalley Holstein herd expanding fast, time is the limiting factor on this 150-acre unit – even with two robotic milkers.

No strangers to pedigree dairy cattle breeding, the Scotts established the Nethervale herd at Netherhall, Largs, in the 1970s which sadly had to be dispersed in 2004 when the family was forced out of the farm by their landlords reducing their previous partnership to a grazing lease. But, far from being downbeat about the situation, they immediately set about sourcing another unit to milk cows on, before eventually purchasing the grassland enterprise at Shacklehill later on in 2004.

Admittedly, it took more than 10 years to turn this original beef rearing unit around into a working dairy, but, with Robbie having inherited his father’s keen eye and passion for pedigree dairy cattle, there was no way he was giving up his dream of breeding and milking his own pedigree Holsteins.

As it is, he has been investing in dairy genetics in his own right for almost 20 years, having bought his first when he whisked Margo away on their first holiday together to Carlisle at the beginning of December, 1999, which just happened to coincide with the Black and White Sale at Borderway Mart. So, while Margo hit the shops, Robbie took to the sale and came home with a Kepculloch calf at 1950gns! That was the start of many as he’s bought a heifer on almost every trip away from home since!

“I just live for my cows but they have to be good cows and good cows to look at. There can be a lot of money made from breeding and milking good dairy females,” said Robbie, who has turned his hand to several activities over the years to earn a crust to include labouring on a building site, transport manager for Ve-Tech construction right up to herds manager for Robert Veitch’s Ve-Tech herd based at Tarbolton.

In fact, it was Robbie’s eight year stint with Ve-Tech that enabled him to milk his own cows at Strandhead before the cow shed and robot milker at Shacklehill was fully operational. His cows received free board and lodging at Strandhead once calved, in return for the milk they produced through the four Lely robots there.

As a result the Scotts had 30 of their own Holstein cows to take to Shacklehill for when the first robot was installed at the end of December, 2016. It also meant training them to use the robot, was a lot simpler than it could have been.

Milking cows at home, also meant converting the previous beef rearing units to accommodate 70 dairy cubicles, which has all been done completely in house with help from Scott Gilliland and Gary Leitch of Lely Kilmarnock, which complete with a milk contract acquired from Yew Tree, gave Robbie and Margo the added confidence to increase cows numbers.

To keep costs to a minimum, an eight-year-old Lely robot milker costing £50,000, was purchased with the first cows milked on home turf just days before Christmas, 2016.

“It was a chaotic month as we did all the work ourselves. We had the Lely man for his Christmas dinner that year as we were still setting up the robot, but it’s going great guns now,” said Robbie.

Eighteen months down the line and the business is milking 70 cows, to include five pedigree Jerseys and an Ayrshire from the Bruchag herd that has already won two show championships this year. They’ve also just installed a second robot and have plans to convert another shed for another 40 cubicle spaces.

Pointing out his reasons for investing in a robotic system compared to an actual parlour, Robbie said: “I love my cows and cows prefer being milked through robots than in a parlour.

“We also love our holidays, and it’s easier to leave Mum and Dad with a herd of cows that can milk themselves through a robot than for them to have to milk them through a parlour. Robots suit our lifestyle and cows tend to last longer being milked through a robot, and they don’t get the same udder pressures.”

Proof of the pudding is, in this case, in the milking, and since the extra robot was introduced last week, daily milk yields from the 33 milking cow group have increased from 42.5litres to 46.7litres within the first three days, with the average number of visits per day rising from 3.3 to 3.9 per day.

Similarly, whole herd production to include milk from heifers and the Jerseys increased from 35.6l to 38.1litres per day within three days from an average of 9kg of concentrates per head per day. Butterfat and protein percentages stand at 3.76 and 3.25% respectively.

Admittedly, the Scotts have invested in some pretty high profile cow families, to ensure increased productivity to include the Blackbird’s with Clauchlands Blackbird 123, not only winning the overall champion of champions accolade two years in succession at Catrine, but also the inter-breed dairy and reserve overall at Ayr, last month. Other top purchases include the Elegance and Dolls from Bowberhill; Ashlyns and Sara from Sterndale and Ricki from Errolston. Many of the Letterkenny females, Cushathill and Drointon cows are also performing well, but then Robbie has been looking to buy modern cows.

Robbie said: “I look for cows and heifers with good feet and legs, udder attachment, good veination and cows with plenty chest width and depth and spring of rib. I want my cows to last for five plus lactations and they should be able to as there is not nearly the same pressure on them or their udders being milked through a robot.

“I’m looking to breed cows that are no taller than 62”. People don’t want enormous, dinosaur-type Holsteins any more. The fashion has changed – there is far more demand for smaller, balanced cows that are more manageable and can easily fit into conventional cubicles.”

Hence, the family has been using genomic sires from proven cow families and sexed semen from Goldchip, Kingpin, Kingboy and Beemer, with first service at 60 days, which tends to see a 25% hold. Cows are AI’d twice to sexed semen and are then AI’d either to a British Blue or with conventional Holstein semen. All bull calves born are sold privately.

Outwith genetics, cow comfort has been optimised with the use of rubber matting and sawdust in the cubicles and additional rubber matting around the robots. Milking females also have access to nearby paddocks in good weather.

But in contrast to producers with robots who either opt to keep their cows in 24/7 and feed them a silage-based TMR all year round, or look to build roads to the various fields for a paddock grazing system, the business purchased a zero grazing forage wagon.

“A second hand zero grazing machine was a far cheaper option than outdoor grazing and feeding silage all year. If you feed silage, you have to add so many other expensive goodies to the feed to make it worthwhile and building roads can be seriously expensive. The second hand zero grazing machine we bought from Ireland cost £10,000 and the cows are giving just as much milk with the grass and the concentrates in the robot compared to the silage and concentrates they were receiving during the winter,” said Robbie.

With Shacklehill boasting relatively dry, sandy soils, the machine was able to cut and harvest grass twice a day and every day, bar one, from the first week in April through until the first week of October, last year. Admittedly, grass quality was extremely variable due to the extreme rainfall from May onwards, with the result that average daily milk yields were also variable, peaking at 33litres per cow which has already been well and truly superseded.

Since the second robot has been installed, whole herd average yields have already increased to 38litres per day and Robbie is confident they will improve further, as grass quality improves – the phenomenal growth of recent weeks has resulted in longer, more mature grass having to be cut from the 30-acre hybrid Italian ryegrass field sown, of which 10 acres has already been made into hay.

Needless to say, the past 10 years have seen a dramatic change around at Shacklehill, but it just goes to show, there is hope for the next generation, provided the sums add up in the early days, which they certainly have done here with the help of Scott’s keen eye for dairy quality, investment in second hand machinery, and an awful lot of love and family labour.