HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-11-09, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2017. PAGE 9.
New Hallahan barn brings technology to operation
Big savings
A new barn featuring robotic technology is saving the Hallahan family a significant amount of
operational and labour costs. The barn held an open house earlier this fall and farmers visited
to see how the new technologies could change the face of dairy farming. (Dennyscottphoto)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
The Hallahan family is practising
some new and unique farming
techniques that are helping to save
labour and energy costs with a new
robotic milking parlour.
Steve Hallahan explained to
The Citizen that a new barn near
Blyth, that was the subject of a
grand opening earlier in the fall,
saves them $1,000 in electricity per
month alone and, thus far, only
costs an additional $40 monthly in
gas usage.
The barn, which is stall -less,
features a single robotic milker and
is designed for maximum airflow in
both the summer and the winter. The
large fans installed in the barn and
absence of stalls allows for the space
to be heated efficiently in the winter.
In the spring, summer and early fall
the barn transforms to promote air
flow in the most energy -conscious
and environmentally way possible.
"We can open [the walls] and end
doors and, basically, the cows just
have a roof over them," Hallahan
said. "The barn is wide open all the
way around."
Energy costs are reduced by
keeping the cows shaded and
allowing natural air flow, Hallahan
said. Other initiatives helping to save
costs include LED light fixtures,
which he said give huge savings, and
gas water heaters which replaced
more expensive electric models.
The LED lights are also the
closest -to -sunlight artificial light
that can be found at a reasonable
price point, Hallahan said.
"The cows feel like they are
outside with the quality of light," he
said.
The fact that the site is robotic also
helps with costs significantly,
Hallahan said.
"With time -of -day electricity use,
we were milking on peak hours both
morning and night," he said. "With
the robotic milker, we can run
through the night on cheaper hydro
rates"
The Lely Milking Robot utilizes
sweet feed and laser guidance to
allow the cows to be milked
completely autonomously Hallahan
said.
"The cows enter the stall one at a
time and the manger drops down
`candy' feed, or sweet feed," he said.
"One hundred grams of sweet feed is
dropped at a time and the cow eats
while the milker is being put on her."
Hallahan said the end result is the
cow isn't paying attention to the
milker, which first cleans the teat for
30 seconds before a laser apparatus
measures udders and teat location.
Getting them early
The Hallahan family opened a new barn last month that
features what part-owner Steve Hallahan calls "some
incredible technological advancements." However, Jack
Phelan, shown here, was more interested in some of the
Hallahan family tractors at the open house and took the
opportunity to explore a little further. (Dennyscottphoto)
"That information goes to the
system which then lines the vacuum
up and starts milking the cow,"
Hallahan said.
Hallahan said that, instead of
going in and milking the cows
himself, he only has to go in twice a
day to clean the robot arm and laser
apparatus.
If the laser gets dirty, the whole
system shuts off," he said.
The cows are anxious to get into
the milker when it's time to be
milked, Hallahan said, and the only
time they need convincing is right
after calving.
"For about two days after a cow
calves, we have to push her in to get
her trained," he said. "By the time
third or fourth day, they are eating
the candy. Right now we're
averaging three milkings a day.
When they get to feel full [of milk],
they will walk up and gladly enter
the machine."
Right now, the family has a herd of
55 cows, five more than they had in
the barn they replaced, however the
new barn was built with an eye to the
future Hallahan said.
"The barn can hold 100 cows and
we have a second site prepared for
another robot when we look at
increasing the size of the herd," he
said.
The system has allowed Hallahan
to operate the barn himself, whereas
the site used to require several other
sets of hands to make things work.
"The labour savings is a big
thing," he said. "When you start
comparing to traditional parlours,
there isn't a huge price difference,
but the labour savings are
substantial."
He said that, with his father Frank
now 77 years old and his own wife
having a full-time job, the fact that
the farm can now be a one-man
operation makes all the difference.
Hallahan said the research that
went into planning the new structure
was extensive, taking three years
before the current structure was
considered.
"We did a lot of research and
homework," he said.
Their open house for the barn
proved that others in the industry are
taking just as much time in
preparing to move forward with
robotics and automation.
"The day of our open house, we
had six people, that have plans for
building a barn similar to this, come
through," he said. "Dealers want to
put on these open houses because
that's how they sell the barn and that
worked for us."
Hallahan said the current trends in
the dairy industry are intriguing to
watch with new equipment and new
facilities focusing on labour
efficiency and cow comfort coming
to the forefront.
Come and Go
Community Appreciation
Reception
for
Keith & Jill Roulston
on the occasion of their retirement
North Huron Publishing and the Blyth BIA
invite you to join us
Saturday, November 18
from 3:00 to 5:00 pm
at Blyth Memorial Community Hall
Best Wishes or Donations
to BIA's BIG Idea Fund!
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