Seven A5 Lely robots milking Coopon Carse Holsteins

“We just have to keep getting better at what we do,” he says, “and letting the cow get milked when she wants to be milked is definitely putting us on the right road.”

Farming 265ha at Coopon Carse, Palnure, Newton Stewart in Wigtownshire, Alex installed two Lely A5 robots in June 2020 and another five three months later in September. He now has seven robots milking the herd's 450 pedigree Holsteins which have replaced the Westfalia 28-point rotary that had done 90,000 hours.

“The way forward was to use technology to improve our farming system,” he says. “Robots were the obvious solution, and Lely the obvious choice. There was so much research data, their back up was excellent, they had a local team, and wherever I looked all the top herds were using Lely.

Lely A5 Astronaut robots have seen increased milk yields and more contented cows

“They’ve been running around eight months now and I’m over the moon with them. They’re doing everything we expected, and more.”

The first two Lely Astronaut A5s were installed for the heifers, to get part of the herd used to the concept. The next five, were a retro-fit into an existing building which suited the new layout. He describes the ability to retro-fit, using an existing building as a ‘big saving’.

Coopon Carse is owned by a Dutch businessman who also farms in East Germany and Holland. It was a beef and sheep farm until purchased in 1983. The farm started its life as a dairy farm in 1984 with a flying herd of 130 cows, added to with 90 pedigree Holstein calves that were imported from the Netherlands. The owner, WN Pon, had already installed A5s in East Germany to milk 600 Jerseys.

“We started by looking to see whether we could revamp the older rotary, but it would have meant stopping it entirely for a few weeks and lots of additional work which would have been very expensive – and we still would have had to make the change in the long run. We also considered investing in a new rotary, but that would’ve meant relocating all our milking facilities and would have put the buildings out of line.

“Robots were the obvious solution and were the route to improving our efficiency.”

The high-yielding, all pedigree Holsteins, carrying the Coopon affix, are more than happy to take themselves to the robots 'when they’re ready'. This is usually twice a day for the late lactation cows and up to four times a day for the cows giving 60+litres/day.

Cows are zero grazed at Coopon Carse due to the heavy clay and high rainfall

The farm is mostly all grass, with 43ha of winter wheat grown for whole crop silage. From April to August the cows are zero grazed, with 20kg of grass per day in the ratio. Grass is cut once a day when the sugars have risen in the morning.

As well as the 450 milkers, the farm supports 380 youngstock, including some 90 in-calf heifers reared as replacements. The youngstock and in-calf heifers go out to graze from April to October, but the milkers are housed all year round.

Alex uses sexed semen on his maiden and milking heifers, using top genetics to get the best replacements, with Belgian Blue conventional semen on the remainder. Beef calves are sold at between two to three weeks up to 12 weeks, all privately and locally as he has built a good consistent market.

He also sells a lot of surplus milk heifers and cows, providing a year-round cash flow.

“Our aim is to always get better,” Alex says. “And the robots are certainly helping us to achieve that. We had yields of about 10,500 litres before they were installed, and over the past month yields have steadily increased up to the 11,300 they are today.

“To be honest we haven’t seen any negatives. Fertility is very important here, and our pregnancy rate has remained at 30% which is more than double the UK average. We haven’t lost any butterfat or protein with the increased yield, and the cows’ feet and legs are a lot better – they aren’t standing around on concrete for hours on end in a collecting yard. They get up to be milked and to feed, otherwise they’re lying in the cubicles.”

There’s been a labour saving too, with labour units cut, leading to a lower wage bill coupled to the added benefit of not worrying about the ever-increasing problem of finding farm staff.

Alex uses Alta Genetics Value Builder to make breeding decisions and selects 45% on production, 45% on health and fertility and 10% on type. Having bred high genetic merit cows, the farm took multiple measures to unlock what Alex felt was a greater potential but was having little success with the old system.

“The robots help us to stay ahead of the cows,” he said. “The management information we get is so valuable and enables us to react before we develop bigger issues.” Overall, he says, the herd is quieter and calmer, and seems much happier.

Current butterfat is 4.08% with protein at 3.45% and Alex wants to push this higher, believing this will lead to healthier cows and better fertility.

Coopon is owned by Dutch businessman WN Pon

“We’re on heavy clay here so this isn’t a grazing farm, and we’re in a high rainfall area. Zero grazing is the answer, and the cows are very happy in this system.”

Cow numbers increased to 300 in the year 2000, when 140ha was added to the farm. Today there are three separate blocks making up the total farm area, all within three miles, and the next aim is to increase cow numbers up to 500, where cow numbers were previously, and add another robot.

“We want to run as we are for a while so we can maximise our existing opportunity,” explains Alex. “We calve all year round, and aim to calve about 10 cows a week plus in-calf heifers… that gives us the flat profile our milk buyer wants. The sheds don’t get too busy, and we don’t have too many youngstock of the same age.”

One of the key elements to the farm’s success is growing enough silage (more than 7000 tonnes to include the whole crop) of excellent quality that is topped up with the fresh grass from April to August.

“This is a big project and our aim is always to do better,” adds Alex. “The robots have given us flexibility, improved the farm’s efficiency, reduced our costs and helped us to manage the cows through learning more about their health and welfare every day. We look forward to seeing how far we can go.”