REPORT: Back in 2022, Gea announced it was launching an autonomous feeding system. For the past six months, a DairyFeed F4500 has been keeping the dairy herd at Carnhill Holsteins full of grub.
A worn diet feeder — and an ageing tractor in front of it — prompted the Casey family to contemplate an automated feeding system. For the past six months, the cows at Carnhill Holsteins have been catered for by a Gea DairyFeed 4500 autonomous diet feeder, which trundles around the buildings throughout the day and night ensuring there is enough fodder along the feed fence. And it is a move that seems to be paying off; an extra 2 litres per cow per day, along with increased butterfat and protein levels. But there are other benefits, too, as Cloughmills farmer Conor Casey points out: “It was taking us around two hours per day and 25 litres of diesel to do the feeding. The robot uses 40kW per day — we are paying around 22 pence per kilowatt — and it now only takes one person 30 minutes to do the diet feeding (filling the bunkers and doing the daily checks).”
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