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Jim
Petrie, Byre Manager
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Mackie's
is the largest Astronaut milking robot farm in Europe. We have a
voluntary access milking centre with 9 "robots" supplied
by Lely Industries,
Netherlands. It requires only 3 people to run the 500 cow herd.
5 robots milk the Jerseys and 4 robots milk the Holsteins.
The system has been a revolution for our dairy herd, says Mac (Managing
Director) and the overall milk production rose by 25% - which is
also a good indication of the welfare of the cows.
The
cows took only 6 weeks to train with the pilot machine. We were
suprised at how quickly they settled into using the new machinery.
They seem relaxed and we have had very few problems.
The feeding regime for the cows is extremely important and we work
with Lely and other experts on altering the nutritional content
to maximise benefit for the cows. The farm crop stategy is related
to the food required and we currently grow 600 acres of grass and
900 acres of cereals.
A recent
innovation for the calves is an automatic feeder which has also
been accepted readily by the younger stock. These units recognise
the calves and ensure delivery of the correct amount of feed when
they approach the bucket to feed.
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Felicity
Record Breaker
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Our
top performer is Felicity, who produced a record milk total of over
11,000 litres in 2005.
That was a celebration point for staff here and the high milk yield
average is a good indication of the welfare of the cows.
Created
by people having fun
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click
on the picture to
see the cartoon pages
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We
were delighted to receive this fun cartoon with an artists impression
of the new milking environment from June Coveney, a cousin of chairman
Maitland. Here is a story about the possible reaction of cows to
such new technology - she has captured great moods in the expressions
on the cows!
If you would like to contact June with requests for art please write
at first to mackies@mackies.co.uk
and we shall forward your contact details.
Many
people are interested visitors to the cows, we have had Royal visitors,
schoolchildren, ice cream fans, farmers and overseas interest. Here
are pictures of two memorable visits - we hope the cows enjoyed
the New Mini Scotland Club and music by Katie Target Adams as she
launched her band in Aberdeen.
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Click
on photo to enlarge
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Click
on photo to enlarge
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