Robotics is playing an increasing role in South Australia's dairy industry with seven automatic milking systems in operation across the state and three more being installed in the next 12 months.
SA Primary Industries Minister David Basham called robotic dairies "the way of the future" for the industry, saying they were set to revolutionise the way things are done, improve efficiency and increase production.
"Robotic dairies will change the milking system and farming practices," he said.
Mr Basham say the state-of-the-art technology popping up in some SA regions should pave the way for others to take it up.
"The increased uptake of agtech on farms (is) key to growing SA's agriculture sector and a robotic dairy is a great example of this," he said.
SA Dairyfarmers' Association chief executive officer Andrew Curtis said robotics had not yet changed the industry but it was on the cusp.
"The challenge has been maintaining the robots," he said.
"Robotics currently being installed has had huge animal happiness outcomes and huge dairyfarmer happiness outcomes because they don't have to get up at four o'clock in the morning.
"It is the future."
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Mr Curtis said they found through a traceability trial, robots captured an array of information while they interacting with the cows.
"The robots provide great information that can be provided to consumers about how the cows are going, where the milk has come from and all it's attributes," he said. "I would recommend farmers continue to look at technology and how it can support them - it is broader than just robotics.
"Robotics is just one solution but there is a whole heap of artificial intelligence solutions that can support farm management without necessary being a robot."
Mr Curtis says there are a lot of opportunities in being able to automatically analyse the information from the cows and automate management decisions.
"It is important to continue to support the cows and their production so it is about computers and artificial intelligence as much as the robotic part of it," he said.
"For labour and other reasons we need to embrace automation and robotics but we also need to recognise, we are already generating a lot information and how to do we use the information better.
"The challenges around automation is maintaining technology and having the support and knowledge on hand to maintain the technology."
Mr Curtis said robotic dairies would also play a part in carbon initiatives by being able to individually manage cows so they produce less methane.
"It's an exciting part of the agtech future of the dairy industry with the more technology you add, the more you have to manage it, but we are up for that," he said.
Robots supplied by Lely - a major supplier of robotic dairy equipment in Australia - have recently been installed at Nangkita Dairies, Mount Compass, to milk 360 cows across six robots.
Nangkita Dairies owner/operator Jake Connor said the business first looked at the idea of installing a robotic dairy about a year ago.
"The capacity of the farm outstripped the capacity of the existing (herringbone) dairy, so approximately 12-months ago, we looked at the feasibility of installing a robotic dairy," he said.
"The cows have the opportunity to walk up, get milked and then walk to a fresh area of the farm three times a day via laneways and automatic sorting gates that send the cows to various sections of the property - essentially cell grazing.
"As it is milking, the robot is providing the amount of litres coming out of each quarter and the total from that milking.
"Out of each quarter the robot is giving us a report on mastitis; the temperature of the milk; the colour of the milk; the conductivity of the milk; the quality of the milk. If it doesn't meet the criteria it will put it down the drain, and then it is also giving us an overall milk cell count."
Mr Connor said the robotic technology would enable them to monitor milk quality more quickly and efficiently and at a per cow level everyday.
"With going robotic we are aiming for a 10 per cent increase in production, a labour efficiency saving and cow longevity," he said.
"The advantages for us was the labour efficiency.
"The aim of the robotics was to cut out the designated milking where we physically put cups on cows, which equated to 11 hours a day.
"It has been replaced with tasks in the shed related to milking and only takes three hours of the day for cleaning, servicing the equipment, opening gates to breaker paddocks, and ensuring the right cows have come to the dairy.
"It's a different sort of work."
Third generation dairyfarmer David Smart, Mypolonga, converted their dairy to robotics in August and says robotics is the way to go.
"Robotics has increased profits by saving on two full labour units a year - about $150,000 - which more than pays for the technology," he said.
"It is not only that, it is the labour we save by not being in the dairy, we can spend on improving the pastures."
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Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
