TECHNOLOGY AT BROOKVALE
Here at Brookvale we are always striving to provide the best home for our cows and the newest addition to our farm comes in the form of 4 Merlin M2 robots. These robots not only milk the cows as and when the cows want, they clean them, provide them with food and give us a huge amount of information about how each cow is doing. Our cows are free to come and go as they please, with some of our cows choosing to milk themselves up to 5 times per day! This leads to a very relaxed herd of cows, no mo(oooo!)ving about in big groups, no stresses and strains of getting up too early (for them and us!) and the ability to closely monitor everything about our cows.
We also utilise automatic scrapers in our sheds to clean up after our girls. Not quite being house trained they do have a habit of making a mess, the scrapers take care of this for us. Running up and down the shed 6 times per day they clean the floors beneath the cows to ensure everything about their environment is perfect.
Our automatic bedding machine keeps the comfy mattresses in tip top shape, throwing out a fresh layer of saw dust and lime to keep away any nasty bugs. Another plus on the technology front is our automatic footbaths, which provide a daily pedicure for cows feet! Healthy hooves make healthy cows and foot health is of utmost importance to us here. Every time our girls come out of the robotic milkers their feet are cleaned with fresh water and disinfectant to keep any issues at bay.
Finally the cows favourite piece of technology is by far and away our automatic back scratchers. These giant rolling brushes reach the spots that no cow can and our girls can always be found getting a good scratch and massage from our scratchers after a day's work! To find out more about the technology we utilise here at Brookvale have a read of our recent article in Farming Life: