Parkend Farm, Crossgates: Four Fullwood M²erlin Robots
The Weatherups have milked with Fullwood all their lives. In March 2017 their 14-year-old parlour made way for four M²erlin robots, installed by McCaskie.
Parkend Farm, Crossgates
| Farmers | Brian and Brian Weatherup |
|---|---|
| Location | Crossgates, Cowdenbeath, Fife |
| Herd | 160 Holstein Friesian cows |
| Milking system | Four Fullwood M²erlin robots |
| Installed | March 2017 |
Three Fullwood Systems in One Family
The Weatherup family moved from Northern Ireland to West Lothian in 1972, and to Parkend Farm in Fife in 1990. There was already a Fullwood 12 x 12 herringbone at Parkend, installed in 1955 and noted as the first milking parlour north of the Forth Road Bridge. It had not been used for 13 years, and Brian updated it to start milking again.
That parlour was upgraded in 1990 and replaced in 2004 by a 30 x 30 herringbone installed by McCaskie. The M²erlin robots are the third Fullwood milking system at Parkend — Brian and his son have only ever used Fullwood equipment.
Relief Milkers Were the Reason
What started the move was labour. With only father and son milking, finding cover was the problem, and Brian put it plainly at the time: “One of our main reasons for changing to robotic milking was the shortage of available relief milkers when we required them. As it’s only the two of us, having the cows being milked robotically allows us to be more flexible, especially at the weekends.”
Before they decided, the family went to see the robots for themselves. “We visited the Fullwood factory in 2016 and seeing M²erlins being made and on farm definitely helped us in making our decision.”
Four Robots in the Existing Building
All four M²erlins went into an existing building, modified to take a meeting room above two of the robots and a viewing area over the robots and cubicles.
The start was good enough that the family sold their Fullwood 30 x 30 herringbone, dismantled it and sent it to a farmer in Ireland within ten days.
Three weeks in, Brian was already measuring the difference: “The robots have had a great performance so far and we’ve had a 10% increase in yields in the first three weeks of milking. We are chuffed to bits as each cow is now averaging 37 litres and 3.5 milkings a day.”
The hours mattered as much as the litres. “As well as the yield increase, the robots are already helping with our work life balance and this will only improve. We have gained 5 hours between the two of us each day, so this enables us to spend more time on cow health and nutrition. The milking is much easier to manage.”
“Overall, it’s so far so good and we are all very pleased with them!”
Brian Weatherup, 2017
Farm Efficiency Open Day, October 2017
On 6 October 2017 the Weatherups hosted a McCaskie farm efficiency open day at Parkend, with special guest Adam Henson of Countryfile, then Agricultural Ambassador for Bank of Scotland.
Of the dealer behind the robots, both Brians said: “They are definitely our favourite choice of dealer and we didn’t hesitate in choosing them for our conversion to robotic milking.”
Thinking About Robots?
The robots at Parkend Farm were installed by McCaskie Engineering, and the same engineers look after them — on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are weighing up robots for your own herd, start with how robotic milking works, or ring Stirling.