1st Published in The Farming Independent on March 19th 2024.
Michael Brady.
Agricultural Consultant and managing director at Brady Group: Agricultural Consultants & Land Agents.
Agtech is the way forward
On a recent trip to see the Dairy industry in Australia, it was clear there is a high uptake of agricultural technology or agtech on dairy farms, primarily driven by the shortage of employed labour.
There is no doubt we in Ireland have developed a highly profitable system of milk production for our dairy farmers over the last 20 years, many are now reaping the financial benefits of this advice and research, as the bank loans drawn down between 2007-2015 are rapidly being paid down.
Our system of production was influenced by the New Zealand model of keeping it simple, minimising the costs of production and only spending the minimum necessary on capital investment. As stated, this has served the majority of dairy farmers well, however some who took the advice to it’s extreme now require investment in larger milk parlours, additional livestock housing and slurry storge when the build cost is double what it was in the last decade. Were these minimum investment models shortsighted?
When walking farms and talking to dairy farmers in mainland Australia, my experience and training was telling me that Australian dairy farmers were investing too much in agtech, labour, buildings and machinery. Why spend it when it reduces profitability and is considered not essential in the first place?
However, it made me think about dairy farmers at home who skimped on the capital investment in the farmyard and are now regretting it. These Irish dairy farmers have the same labour issues as their Australian counterparts and are burnt out from work. So, I asked myself are we pushing our dairy farmers too hard, maybe being the top of the discussion group class in profit per hectare is not what it’s all about at the end of the day. Here are some observations from Australia where we can consider applying in Ireland:
Labour Employed – How much?
The dairy farms on mainland Australia are primarily in Victoria and New South Wales, the ones I visited had high levels of labour when compared to our target of one labour unit per 100 – 120 cows. I saw farms with 1 labour unit per 60-70 cows. The dairy farmers acknowledged they had extra labour employed, but the owners did not often milk the cows, therefore the additional labour gave them time to think/manage better and have an improved quality of life. It also provided cover for the labour requirement on farm if someone unexpectedly left their position. Extra labour reduces net profit but is not a bad decision for many farm businesses.
Halter – Agtech
We live in the information technology age, but technology (AgTech) has yet to disrupt the systems of production in farming as it has done in other industries such a hotel, taxis and airline booking. Halter is a New Zealand based agtech company who have raised over $100 million US in Silicon Valley and are certainly intent on changing the face of livestock farming. They have developed a system of virtual fencing, yes no traditional paddocks or fence wires required. The cow has a collar just like the heat detection and animal health systems so popular on cows at home nowadays. Firstly, a sound/vibration warns the cow that she is straying near the ‘virtual fence’ but if she continues to roam she gets an electric shock 10% the strength of a regular electric fencer. The fencing is combined with an algorithm which predicts/measures the amount of grass in the paddock. This technology enables 1) better/more accurate allocation of grass 2) better utilisation of grass 30 better quality grass, all of which results in increased production, health benefits and reduced labour, not to mind the saving on replacing existing post and wire fences. It also has the heat detection and animal health monitoring functionality common in other systems, all from the comfort of your mobile phone. No more going for the cows, shifting strip wires etc, the possibilities are endless and very exciting for both dairy and beef cows. I saw this system working successfully on a number of farms in Tasmania (it’s not licenced in other states yet), the farmer users are very impressed with the system but acknowledge it is still developing. In my opinion this technology is here to stay and it will disrupt and change livestock farming systems for the better.
Robotic Milking
In North Victoria dairy farms have competition for water for irrigation from the cities, environment and horticultural crops. It takes less water per hectare to grow a crop of maize than to irrigate grass. This fact along with the labour shortage is causing farmers in this region to turn to putting the cows indoors 100% of the time on a confinement system. Herds up to 500 cows are opting for robotic milking systems with the larger herds putting in large rotary parlours. These units have all the modern technology to minimise labour and maximise remote IT management of the herd. A robot to milk cows on a herringbone and rotary parlour will be a gamechanger in milking cows.
Offsite administration
Because so many corporates own and mange farms in Australia, in many cases the ‘paperwork’ or administration of running an individual farm is centralised away from the farm. This presently is not common in Ireland, but subcontracting out all the paperwork and accounting would be very attractive for some dairy farmers. It would free up a lot of time which could be put to better use in improving the productivity of the farm.
In summary, we can learn a lot from Australian dairy farmers about the uptake of Agtech, simplifying farm systems and futureproofing dairy farm businesses. Everyday, is a school day.