A lot of investment has been made in the dairy industry over the past 12 months, with something to suit all sizes.

Versatile robotic shed for outside block

In August, we featured a new robotic set-up on the farm of Francis and Eimear Nally and their young family from outside Athlone, Co Westmeath. One robot has been installed on the farm, but scope has been left to install another in the future if desired.

Tidy cubicle shed completed for 150 cows

150 cubicle shed built through TAMS.

A new cubicle shed was installed on the farm of John and Agnes Kelleher and their son John junior, who farm near Glanmire, Co Cork. They entered into partnership two years ago, with the farm rapidly expanding in the past few years. The Kellehers are currently milking 240 cows, up from 125 in 2014. This expansion has also meant that facilities on the farm were coming under pressure. The decision was made to construct a new cubicle shed encompassing 150 cubicles and a dry bedded calving area.

New 88-cubicle shed and 24-unit milking parlour

Having entered into partnership, John Fitzgerald and Paul Sweetnam installed a new cubicle shed with 88 cubicles. They also constructed a 24-unit milking parlour and an impressive holding yard fitted with an automatic backing gate.

Suspended passageway doubles storage capacity in new cubicle shed

The shed on the farm of James Lynch, who farms just outside of Sixmilebridge in Co Clare, provides 64 cubicles and ties in with an existing shed that already has 80 cubicles. The main drawback of the existing shed was that it only had 40 feed spaces. The new shed is designed so that cows can be fed on three sides, which gives a much larger feeding capacity.