Grougfoot Farm, Linlithgow: A New Parlour in the Old Building
Louise Kennedy looked at robots and chose a Fullwood 16 x 16 herringbone instead — installed in December 2016 in the building the old parlour stood in.
Grougfoot Farm, Linlithgow
| Farmer | Louise Kennedy |
|---|---|
| Location | Grougfoot Farm, Linlithgow, West Lothian |
| Herd | 125 Friesian cows |
| Milking system | Fullwood 16 x 16 herringbone |
| Installed | December 2016 |
Built in 1976, Worn Out by 2016
Louise lives and works at Grougfoot with her parents, and for over twenty years they milked in the parlour the farm came with. “Our previous parlour was a Fullwood 12 x 12 herringbone installed in 1976 by the previous farm owners and when we moved to the farm in 1994 we were milking 60 Ayrshire cows. The parlour was very labour intensive, had milk jars without meters and towards the end of its life some of the feeders didn’t work at all. My parents and I knew if I was going to continue milking we would need to invest in a new milking system.”
Robots Considered, a Parlour Chosen
A good milk contract made the timing right, and Louise weighed up robots before choosing. “Our milk contract was favourable and I decided it was the right time for us to invest. I looked into various options, including robotic milking, but decided to install a new herringbone parlour as it suits my situation and how our herdsman, David, and I like to milk.”
The new parlour is a Fullwood 16 x 16 high-level 50-degree herringbone. It went into the same building as the old one, modified slightly to take a modern, wider pit, which gives the cows more space and the milkers more room.
Half the Milking Time
The difference was plain. “Our new parlour is going well and saving us time. It is much more ‘people friendly’ and a wider pit gives us more room during milking.”
The biggest saving was the clock. “Our old parlour used to take us 2.5 hours milking twice a day and we have cut that by half. For cleaning, we now have Fullclean which saves an hour per day compared to our previous system.”
The family also put in an automatic scraper in the cow housing and two new feed bins, and re-tarmacked the main farm tracks. “All of our improvements are saving us so much time for everything we need to do.”
Every Cow Identified and Fed in the Stall
Each stall identifies the cow from her Tiris ear tag, linked to Fullwood’s Crystal herd management software. When she is in position, the pre-calculated amount of feed for her is released into the feeder while she is milked.
Fewer cows are now giving more milk. “Our herd has decreased from 150 down to 125 but we are achieving a higher milk yield than we were before the changes. We are really pleased and are putting this down to better feeding and milking conditions. We are looking to increase the herd back up to 150 again soon.”
As well as the dairy, Louise looks after the family’s beef herd, grazed across three farms.
“We are very pleased with how everything is going and in hindsight, we should have replaced the parlour ten years ago. I have no regrets as it has improved milking for all of us.”
Louise Kennedy
Inside the New Parlour
The Fullwood 16 x 16 high-level 50-degree herringbone at Grougfoot, built into the same building as the old parlour with a wider pit.
Thinking About a New Parlour?
We design Pearson conventional parlours around the building you have, then supply, install and service them from Stirling. Ring Stirling or email service@mccaskie.co.uk.