Ed Perraton

Ed Perraton and Vicci Camp’s four Lely A3 milking robots have proved so reliable over the last 14 years, they’ve chosen to invest in two additional secondhand robots that are two years older.

For the farming duo, expanding by adding on robots as funds allow, and making the most of “good value” second hand machines has proved a cost effective model for herd expansion. 

They began milking at Winslade Farm in 2010. In the preceding years they had rented a nearby dairy and invested earnings in establishing the new unit on a greenfield site on Ed’s parents’ farm. Limited scope for expansion and outdated facilities meant Ed’s parents had taken the decision to convert the family’s existing dairy into residential dwellings.

The new facility was set up using cows from the rented farm, initially milked through three new Lely A3s. The first secondhand machine was quickly added in 2012 to take robot numbers to four.

“They’ve been here 14 years, milking cows three times a day, 24 hours a day. You’d never get staff to do that,” Vicci says. “Considering what they do and how long they’ve done it for, it’s incredible. No other machine works that hard.”

So when two secondhand A3s came up for sale, they were quick to make the most of the opportunity. Although they toyed with the idea of moving to a newer model, the performance and service associated with the A3s they already had, meant they deemed it unnecessary.

The plan now is to have one of the new robots up and running by Christmas following the installation of 60 additional cubicles. The second will come into operation next year, once the infrastructure is ready. Vicci says the machines will enable them to milk a lot more cows “for not much money,” using homebred heifers, whilst Lely will service them to the same level as the existing machines.

The aim is to milk 350 cows, with further expansion dependent on what their three children - aged 10-15 -  wish to do. The ability to expand gradually with robots builds greater flexibility into the business which wouldn’t be there with a parlour.

Ed believes the robots, together with ongoing improvements in breeding and nutrition, has helped to maximise output from the herd.  

As soon as cows moved onto the robots in 2010, yields climbed from 7,500 litres a cow a year due to increased milking frequency. Ed believes the labour associated with three times a day milking meant this wouldn’t’ have been possible with a conventional parlour.

“As yields rose, we decided to push them and see where we could get,” he explains. “Arla is interested in litres. They don’t care how many cows you’ve got, so the more litres you can get, the better.”

Moving away from a Holstein to a three way cross has also substantially improved cow longevity, which means the herd is now at its optimum level of 55 cows per robot. The next step is to breed for milking speed with a target of 3.2 litres a minute, instead of the current 2.7 litres a minute. 

This will be helped by continuing to select cows using the Cow Index, available through the Lely Horizon software. This is a herd specific index, comparing individual cows with the herd average using the metrics of health, production, robot efficiency and reproduction. Ed uses this to select the best cows for sexed semen, with any low scoring animals put to beef. 

Activity collars have also assisted pregnant rates, with the team relying on them for heat detection, AI timings and pregnancy diagnosis at 60 days. “I got fed up with picking cows out for the vet to tell me what Horizon had told me,” Ed comments.

Ed has also drawn on the advice of Nutritionist, Jon Eldridge to improve nutritional efficiencies. Jon has changed various settings, including robot feed and access tables, as well as the diet.

“The answer was to cut the cake back, make them eat more forage at the feed fence and use cake as a sweetie,” Ed explains. “That’s helped our yields tremendously and has encouraged us to make better silages.”

Grass is now cut on a multi-cut system, every 30 days, leys are reseeded regularly and more attention has been placed on clamp management, including better consolidation. This should all combine to help Ed and Vicci hit their target of 5,000 litres of milk from forage per cow per year.

All-in-all, Ed believes the business is in a better position, thanks to the robots, whilst the working day is also more flexible. “They’ve milked the cows without employing staff. It’s certainly a flexible routine. You can start at 0530 in the morning or 0730 in the morning,” Ed says.

Farm Facts

•   Winslade Farm, Kingsbridge, Devon.

•   Ed Perraton in partnership with mother, Liz and farming with partner, Vicci Camp with help from their children: Lewis, 15, Lydia, 12 and Henry, 10.

•   202ha (550 acres) farmed including grass, maize and wheat.

•   250 cows calving and housed all year round.

•   Pro-Cross cows: Montbeliarde x Swedish Red x Holstein.

•   Four Lely Astronaut A3 milking robots (three installed in 2010, one second hand installed in 2012).

•   11,500 litres per cow per year at 4.3% fat and 3.4% protein.

•   3.2 average robot visits per day.

•   3,850litres per cow per year milk from forage.

•   Supplying Arla Asda.

•   220,000 cells/ml average bulk somatic cell count at 30 bactoscan.

•   9 cases of mastitis per 100 cows.