Previous to Richard working with us we were struggling to get above 30/31 litres. Richard came in looked at the robot settings, the cow’s environment and nutrition. We saw an immediate response and an uplift in milk. We went from 31- 36 litres in very little time and it was down to Richard getting the diet right.
Robust robot experience and challenging “the norm” gets results!
Gregor Colquhoun and his Family farm at Dendoldrum Farm, Inverbervie, Montrose. It's a high Input, high output system where they milk 700 Holstein Cows through 11 robots.
Gregor Coloquhoun farms at Dundoldrum farm in Montrose Scotland. A third-generation farmer, Gregor has seen the farm go from 30 Holstein cows being milked in the parlour to 700 cows being milked through 11 robots. On contract to Muller, and with a largest proportion of his milk going to Tesco supermarkets, Gregor relies on his robotic milking system as the foundation of this high input, high output system.
A key part of managing a robotic system is balancing the nutrition with the robot data and health and management of the cows. This is the job of the Advanced Robot team, a division of Advanced Ruminant Nutrition who have worked with robotic systems for over 10 years. It’s their ability to understand the robot and herd data, and their experience in using it, which drives results for their clients.
Gregor explains, “We started out with four robots which were installed in a purpose built building in 2006 replacing the old wooden kennel building. We kept the parlour which milked 60 of the herd, we now milk 700 cows through 11 robots."
Following their expansion onto robots they’ve been working with Advanced Ruminant Nutrition for 14 years.
“The team’s robotic experience means they are always challenging me to get the best out of the cows, they maintain the herd’s health status whilst also improving performance. They aren’t just here to challenge the nutrition, they look at the whole system whether that’s looking at cow comfort and the environment, stocking densities, heifer rearing, assessing cow mobility etc. They also have a real emphasis on continual learning. The team are often gathering knowledge from industry experts. We’ve been on trips to other parts of the country and overseas to see how other systems are working, with the team picking up on key points to learn from. They are regularly generating new ideas to keep pushing us forwards.”
Nutrition robot settings and data
Eoghan Mullery, Technical Director at Advanced Ruminant Nutrition works closely with Gregor and notes, “On a robotic system we look to balance the diet to stimulate and control visits. We achieve persistent lactations by manipulating cow behaviour, maximising forage intakes, and lying times, achieving a better balance for the herd. This allows us to maximise robot potential, whether the farm objective is to improve the number of cows per robot, increase the milk per robot or increase milk solids per robot. By maximising the robots potential, we achieve a profitable robotic milking system. So, we work hard with our clients to improve cow health, ensure a successful transition period and drive an excellent fertility status within the herd. Healthier cows give more milk throughout lactation. Achieving this flatter lactation removes some of the pressure off the fresh cows allowing them to naturally reach their genetic potential and breed on time.”
Gregor comments, “In the past I would have been inclined to feed more in the trough and less in the robot, however, the team challenged me to feed more cake in the robot to promote and maintain yield throughout lactation, which has worked to improved yields and in fact has proven to be more economical.”
Gregor knows his herd has the genetics to achieve high milk yields, so, in order to continually challenge yields, Eoghan is regularly looks at the milk access and feed tables in the robot settings, adjusting to give more access.
“We also use Transition Energy in the robots which is a liquid feed, to provide additional energy in the first 50 days of milk. Following on, if the cow is producing over 55 litres, then we continue with the product. This has really helped to push milk yields while maintaining fertility,” comments Gregor.
Dry cow nutrition
“One area that has been key to keeping the system running smoothly to keep production levels up is improving dry cow nutrition. We weren’t experiencing critical issues with our dry cows but when you have a robotic system and cows are going into a nursing pen and not going straight on the robot, this costs in both time and production. To take control and provide a more proactive approach, we were advised to use X-Zelit. This is a calcium binder which creates the perfect level of calcium at calving, preventing clinical and sub-clinical milk fever. Since then, we’ve had very few cases of any metabolic issues, which means the cows are straight onto the robots.”
Eoghan comments, “Fresh cow health and yield data has really helped reinforce the effectiveness of using X-Zelit, it’s my first choice when we need to take complete control of transition. I find it easy to manage, it’s a lot less invasive on the cow’s metabolic system compared to any DCAD system. It’s also scientifically proven to be effective in several studies, most recently with work from Tom Overton at Cornell University and Patrick Hoffman at University Wisconsin, which backs up the success we see here in the UK. There are many benefits to using X-Zelit; cows transition onto robotic systems better, settle quicker and achieve desired visits, yield and bulling activity. As Gregor highlighted the cows just get on with the job with minimum issues.”
Forage management
The Advanced Robot team have also been on hand to help select the right grass varieties. Gregor now also utilises a multi-cut system. “The objective is simple, to produce enough high-quality grass silage to meet the forage budget, allowing the farm to maintain a high forage base diet,” explains Gregor.
Eoghan comments, “Narrowing the difference in quality between the 1st and 4th or 5th cut is key and Gregor does a great job at this. In doing this, we see minimal upset moving between cuts of grass, we can feed the desired high forage base diet and cow health is very good. Achieving higher levels of forage intake has been key to controlling cost per litre at Dendoldrum and the multi-cut system is the foundation to its success. Gregor proves that even as far north in the UK as Aberdeenshire, success with multi-cut grass systems is achievable!”
Foot health and mobility
“Like many dairies, each year we identify new areas for improvement. One area identified four years ago was challenging foot health and mobility,” explains Eoghan. “With this large herd graduating towards being a fully robotic milking system, Gregor knew feet had to be at their best and his own ambition set the challenge to improve.”
“Foot health was a bottleneck and so a systematic approach was needed. We invited Nick Bell from Herd Health to work with us some terrific results.”
In addition to this Gregor installed diamond grooving. We took a team approach to mobility scoring, with training given on trimming as well as working on some targeted nutritional approaches.
Eoghan explains, “To help maximise the effect of the physical improvements being made, and with the input of Zinpro performance minerals, we created a mineral package with revised levels of biotin and zinc amongst others, to focus more on hoof health. The approach at Dendoldrum to achieve significant improvements in herd mobility encompass what our Advanced Mobility program aims to do.”
Farm snapshot – January 2024
Yield
43kg+/cow/day milk produced
4% butterfat & 3.2% milk protein
Robots
Average 3.2 visits
10% free time
Heifers averaging 37kg, cows 46.5kg
Fertility data snapshot from uniform
41% conception rate @ 69% insemination rate giving a 28% preg rate
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