Converting from beef to dairy and investing in robotic technology has given one Northern Ireland-based family greater flexibility to manage other enterprises. We visited them to find out more.
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Applying cutting-edge robotic sorting technology to his equestrian warehouse gave Robert Patton the confidence to invest £1m in a robotic dairy unit. The County Antrim-based businessman and ex-amateur jump jockey established Old Mill Saddlery, an online equestrian retail business that employs 40 staff, four decades ago.
There are nine autonomous mobile robots that pick and sort orders in the company’s warehouse, and adopting this technology, and witnessing the labour efficiencies, encouraged Robert to convert his beef unit to dairy in April 2024 and build a fully robotic setup to manage the 114-cow herd on the 85-hectare farm, based near Ballycarry. Prior to this switch the farm was home to 80 beef Shorthorns and he finished their progeny.
“The move to dairy was purely financial,” he says. “I loved the beef Shorthorns, but I’m a businessman and have to run the farm commercially – it has to make money.” The whole dairy herd was purchased from school friend Alan Hill, from Islandmagee, who was exiting the industry. Robert later employed Alan’s herdsperson, Chelsea Sloan, to manage the herd.
“We thought transitioning the herd from milking through a conventional parlour to robots would more difficult than it was,” says Chelsea. “But within a week, the number of cows we needed to fetch to be milked was low. The cowhouse design and setup certainly helped – cows have to pass through the milking robot to access feed.”
Closed herd
Robert adds that buying the herd from one unit was also beneficial. “Not only did it mean that we were able to produce milk straight away, but the herd had been closed for 40 years. So there are also advantages in maintaining and managing herd health.”
The shed that houses the cows and robots, which was completed in April, comprises three rows of back-to-back cubicles totalling 126 places, with mattresses that are bedded with sawdust.
Robert opted for Heatguard transparent roof sheets, which let in natural light, and their polycarbonate material limits heat build-up.
The shed is fully automated. Cows are milked through two Lely A5 Astronaut robots and are fed using Lely’s Vector mixing feeding robot. A Lely Discovery Collector C2 is used to keep the floor clean.
Cows are currently averaging 35.5kg at 4.45% butterfat and 3.56% protein from 3.1 milkings daily and are on track to produce 841kg of milk solids (10,500 litres) annually. Herd average somatic cell count is 150,000 cells/ml, and milk is sold to Aurivo. At the end of October 2024, somatic cell counts averaged just 51,000 cells/ml, with Bactoscan counts hitting 10.
Early detection
Chelsea credits this figure to Lely’s Horizon’s somatic cell count report. It detects any udder-health issues early, which allows the team to be proactive when it comes to preventing mastitis.
“The robot milks each quarter individually and detects changes in conductivity. If a cow’s somatic cell count rises above 500,000 cells/ml, I get a notification via my smartphone and will strip that quarter and apply Uddermint.”

The herd has an autumn-calving bias with 40 cows calving between August and September, but the aim is to level the milk profile within the next 15 months.
Robert says his favourite machine is the Lely Mixing Feeding Robot (MFR), which he believes will pay for itself within five years. Vector is unique to other automated feeders because it scans the feed fence and supplies to demand.
The unit’s feed fence runs down each length of the shed, with one indoor fence and side curtains to protect against the prevailing wind.
Dry-cow and milking rations, totalling 6 tonnes per day, are fed out ‘little and often’ either 11 or 12 times daily. Feeding accuracy, measured by the ‘feed requested’ versus what is loaded, is hitting 96%.
Milkers are currently fed 35kg freshweight of second-and third-cut silage, as well as 6.5kg of a 20.5% protein blend, plus minerals. Total dry matter intakes are averaging 25.6kg daily.
The herd’s nutritionist David Kwasniewski says that cows are fed a ration that supports maintenance plus 25 litres through the Vector, and are fed a maximum of 12kg via the robots. Any concentrate not eaten inside the robots is offered to individual cows through a Lely Cosmix out-ofparlour feeder.
Dairy rations
Fresh calvers are given a low-protein, high-energy 17% concentrate, and once cows reach 100 days in milk they switch to a high-protein, lower-energy 20% blend. The feed rate averages 0.39kg/litre and margin over concentrate is £10.98, based on a milk price of 42ppl.
The robotic technology being utilised by both of the Patton family’s businesses offers greater flexibility for Robert, his wife Kerrie, and sons Thomas and Will, to be ‘hands-on’ across the two enterprises.
When he leaves school, Thomas hopes to attend Ulster University to study part-time and is planning on working four days a week in the saddlery, learning the ropes. But he also has a keen interest in the dairy.
Robert believes robots hold the key to attracting the next generation by making the job more interesting and flexible.
Chelsea is a testament to this. In her previous position she worked 14 hours a day – from 5am until 7pm – but now starts work at 6.30am, finishes at 11am and returns to the unit at 3pm for another three-hour shift.
“Flexible working hours were a key requirement for me when I started milking as I have other businesses to run and needed to avoid working-time restrictions. The Lely robots are meeting that requirement,” says Robert. “Someone still needs to be at the unit, but they want to start work at 9am on a Sunday, for example, then they can.”
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