‘UK approach to dairy has more emphasis on indoor systems’

In the coming weeks, Irish Country Living will be catching up with the students awarded this year’s Agricultural Science Association (ASA) Travel Bursaries.

The ASA has teamed up with the Irish Farmers Journal, Seedtech and Tirlán to support agricultural science students expand their knowledge abroad.

Four students from University College Dublin (UCD), two students from South East Technological University (SETU) and one student from Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) were each awarded a €1,000 scholarship.

First up is Darragh Scully from Clonaslee, Co Laois, a third-year agricultural science student in UCD specialising in Agricultural System Technology (AST).

“Growing up on a dairy, beef and tillage farm led me to having a major interest in all things ag-tech and ag engineering. I want to learn more about these areas of agriculture as I feel technology will play a major role in the future of sustainable food production.

“For my placement, I am with Lely Atlantic based in Birmingham in the UK. Lely Atlantic is part of the wider Lely Global company which specialises in automatic/robotic solutions for milking, feeding and manure.

"They offer sales, service and business support to the nine Lely centres (dealers) located throughout the UK and Ireland.

“I started my placement at the end of March, and I have spent the majority of my time working within the service support team assisting the Farm Management Support (FMS) and Technical Service Support (TSS) teams in different projects and tasks. These include things like validation projects, training and support audits,” says Darragh.

Dairy systems in the UK

“The main difference I have seen in the British approach to dairy systems is the emphasis on indoor systems, with an all-year-round calving pattern. These indoor systems feed high quality Total Mixed Ration (TMR) diets to animals.

"Investment in technology is growing fast in the UK with many farms operating Lely robotic milking systems, and Lely Vector feeding systems for beef and dairy.

“I have had the opportunity to visit farms with herd sizes varying from 50 to 500 plus cows who have implemented technologies such as milking, feeding and manure handling robots to manage the farm.

“Animal health and comfort is also at the heart of these systems with comfortable cubicles playing a major role in ensuring the animals are as happy as possible.

"Cow brushes are also common here as well as fans in sheds which help circulate the air throughout. Plenty of fresh water is always available for these animals and hoof health is kept on top of through regular hoof bathing.”

“One of the highlights so far has been attending Balmoral Show with Lely Centre’s English division. This was particularly special as the division has sold the 50,000th astronaut milking robot in the world and had it on display at the show.

"It is a great achievement for them, and everyone involved. I have also enjoyed learning about the different types of data and information that can be obtained through the astronaut.

“When I first started, I was somewhat aware of the amount of data from robots, but it wasn’t until I got some hands-on experience that I realised just how much there is for the end-user.

"It has also been interesting to learn how we can use all this information to make decisions which can improve the herd efficiency and productivity.

“In the coming months I will help in leading a project related to monitoring the cleaning performance of milking robots,”explains Darragh.

“I hope to be able to implement the knowledge I have gained over the past few months about ag tech to my final year of study and to the farm at home. I believe we have only started to scratch the surface of ag-tech and I am excited for what the future holds."

Agriculture is a very diverse sector and there is something to suit everyone. I think the major challenge we will face is lack of skilled labour. However, that’s where technology and automation will help us out.