FutureDairy has announced that its prototype of the revolutionary robotic rotary will be decommissioned later in the year. Chairman, Shirley Harlock, said the decommissioning was both expected and planned.
When it comes to irrigation water and nitrogen fertiliser, more is not necessarily better for maize silage. FutureDairy rese arch has shown that although higher levels of water and nitrogen application generally result in higher maize yields, the nutritional value drops because the increase in grain percentage is offset by an increase in fibre content.
Infrared (IR) cameras could hold the key to improving heat (or oestrus) detection on dairy farms, according to initial results from a FutureDairy pilot trial. FutureDairy project leader, Assoc Prof Kendra Kerrisk, said that although the research was in its early days, the technology was commonly available
With the robotic rotary now operating at the Dornauf farm in Tasmania, dairyfarmers are starting to ask specific questions about how it works, and whether the optional extras, such as teat preparation robots are a good business proposition.
Advances in technology are allowing dairy farmers to use a combination of data from their own farm and climate records to ‘learn’ from seasonal yields. This new learning function will enable farmers to determine the causes of poor pasture performance and to identify ways to improve yields.
The location of a feedpad in an automatic milking system (AMS) can be a useful tool for encouraging higher levels of intake of supplementary feed, according to recent research conducted by the FutureDairy team. Postgraduate student Tori Scott investigated how the location of supplementary feed affected the time it took cows to move back to the paddock after milking, and the time taken to return for their next milking.