Bespoke French robotic dairy shed

A recent Irish Farm Buildings Association (IFBA) study tour included visits to a number of different farmers in the Massif Central region of France. One such visit included a trip to the CK Industries factory, which specialises in producing a range of barrier and tubular equipment for livestock sheds.

Close to the factory is a demonstration farm owned and run by the Gaec des Gaulois family that is not only run as a commercial farm, but also to trial products CK Industries produces, such as barriers, different cubicle types and scrapers, among other items.

The shed

The shed itself was built in 2004 and, like the majority of such sheds in France, is made predominantly from timber. The shed is 12 bays long and is home to a 70-cow milking herd, which is milked through a Lely Astronaut machine. The shed is not at full capacity, with 82 cubicles in the shed in total.

There is further capacity to add more cubicles to the shed, but the robotic milking machine is the limiting factor on the current setup.

When cows exit the milking machine, they can be automatically drafted into a holding area if further attention is required or if the animal has a potential health issue.

Feeding

Lockable feed barriers run the full length of the feeding passage. An interesting design aspect is the addition of several slip-through gates incorporated into several of these feed barriers. Cattle can still eat through these slip-through gates, but they are a much safer option for the farmer to enter the cubicle area of the shed. Feed barriers are slanted forward to allow cattle better access to feed. Above the milking machine is a loft, which is used to hold hay or straw.

Light

The shed is bright and airy, with a wide roof light running along the length of the apex of the shed. Additionally, there are several roof lights in each span of the shed.

Airflow was a top priority, with a retractable curtain running one length of the shed, meaning that airflow can be controlled. This is the side of the shed that the prevailing wind will hit first.

The cubicles of the shed are bedded in straw. One of the main reasons for this is that they can spread the resulting organic matter on to other crops that are grown on the farm. For this reason, straw is not spared.

Two scrapers run the full length of the shed and exit through flaps at the end.

Slurry

Outside the shed, the scrapers push the straw and dung over a slatted channel, which allows the slurry to be drained away into a lagoon, while the straw is pushed into a pile. This is left to break down and is then spread on the land.

Cows’ diets vary throughout the year, but include a mixture of ensiled maize, grass silage, ensiled Lucerne and rapeseed, along with vitamins and minerals.

Costs

The total cost came to a substantial €486,111. Included in this was the Lely milking machine, which cost €134,300, leaving the shed cost at €351,811. Of this, the tank cost just under €30,000, while the slurry lagoon cost a further €31,500. The shed structure cost €89,000, while the curtain cost €9,850. The internal barriers and gates cost €27,000, while the scraper system came to just over €17,000.

The concrete work cost €53,500. Groundworks, including renting the digger, labour, installing the internal fittings and the electrical and water works, cost approximately €77,000. Other expenses included design at €3,600, installing a well for €3,900 and installing a main gate at €8,700.

Grant aid of 19% was available (€92,467), leaving net cost of €393,644.

Performance of the farm

During the tour, the financial performance of the farm was provided for the 2015 financial year. The average price received for milk was 33.4c/l, while the income from meat and other live sales was 2.8c/l. CAP supports also contributed a further 6.6c/l.

The running costs for the farm stood at 31.4c/l and this included feed costs of 11.4c/l, fertiliser and seed costs of 4.4c/l. Own labour was not included in this and is given separately at 13.8c/l.

However, this was between two sons and a father working in partnership on the farm. The net profit of the farm according to the figures was 8.8c/l in 2015.