DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA JULY 2014
32 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS
Robot milker phone app provides more freedom A SMARTPHONE app
just released by Lely Australia will enable farmers with their Lely Astronaut robotic milkers to monitor and control the system from their phone, regardless of where they are. Lely said the new Lely T4C InHerd Management tool can make farmers’ operations even more efficient. Darryl Light, from Drouin South, near Warragul, in Gippsland installed two Lely A4 Astronaut robots two years ago. Up until then he had been milking on a 10-stand double-up herringbone originally built for five foot tall milkers. Mr Light is over six foot tall and he chose to go with the robots from an ergonomic view to relieve the labour stresses on him. “My knees don’t ache like they used to standing on concrete plus all the things that are bad for you in that situation,” he said. “I used to say that I milk cows – now I tell people I’m a dairy farmer.” A major feature of the Lely Astronaut A4 cow box is the walkthrough design called the I-flow concept which allows the cow to walk straight in and out of the box avoiding any unnecessary obstacles. The cow friendly design allows for continuous interaction with the rest of the herd to elimi-
WHO:
Darryl Light WHERE:
Drouin South WHAT:
Robotic milkers app
nate unnecessary stress. Mr Light milks 120 Jerseys at Jadell Jersey Stud which covers 93ha (230 acres) with a 28ha (70 acre) out-block. He took over the running of the dairy from his parents, Alan and Beth, a few years ago and now nobody else is involved in the milking. Alan comes over to hose down each morning. “I don’t have to milk twice a day, it gives me another four to five hours a day to do other things,” he said. “But I’m on call 24/7 in case there is an issue with the robots.” Mr Light said he was given the T4C InHerd management app for an early trial. It is applicable to all smart phones and he explained that his phone receives a signal which goes to the server, then to Holland, on to the internet and into his computer – all in three seconds. “It gives me remote operation of the dairy through each cow’s ID.
The Lely T4C InHerd phone app provides a complete overview of the performance of the milking robot.
It provides readouts or alarms of the herd’s performance, so I’m looking at the computer using the phone, from anywhere on the farm - or off it. “It’s a major benefit, not having to write anything down when you’re out and about on the farm, particularly if you see a cow on heat, you just punch in her ID on the phone and it goes into the system.” Mr Light said getting a handle on operating the InHerd management app is a similar process to computer learning. “I handle it myself by working out the program-
mer’s thought processes and it becomes fairly logical.” A major feature of the system is that it provides him with a diary of the day’s tasks relating to management of the herd, so it becomes easier to plan the jobs. “That’s would be excellent if you had a number of workers on the place – everybody would know what jobs are to be done, without having to write them up on a whiteboard.” At the moment the cows are just coming in to be milked twice a day; usually with robots, it is closer to 21/2 times a day.
Gippsland farmer Darryl Light can monitor and control his Lely Astronaut through a new app on his smartphone.
Mr Light said paddock management with the robotic system has been easier than he thought. “I just rotate on the two paddocks, A and B, in place of setting up an A, B and C configuration. There is plenty of grass available. “This app adds another dimension to robotic milking,” he added. “You can run your farm from anywhere in the world.” Lely Australia said the T4C InHerd Management app is a unique mobile tool for obtaining a com-
plete overview of the performance of the milking robot. With this new tool operators will be informed when it is time to replace teat liners, brushes and other parts of the milking robot. When attention or maintenance is needed, items will be marked in red. Farmers can check their cow and herd performance, act immediately and improve their farm results. If the computer senses any issues with the pro-
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grammed milking, it phones Darryl with an alarm. In fact during our visit, the phone rang with a message that the cows hadn’t been in either stall for some time. Mr Light wasn’t perturbed as they weren’t really overdue at that stage according to his own schedule. “This really makes robotic milking what it should be. I reckon it’s great.” • Our regular Working Clothes column will return next month.