How technology has shaped Australian dairy farming

Over the generations, technology has helped farmers deepen their stewardship of the land, improve the quality of their milk and ease the burden of farming.

A hundred years ago, Tom Middlebrook’s ancestors were living and farming in relative isolation on Bowman Farm in Gloucester, on the mid north coast of New South Wales.

Named for the Bowman River that runs through it, the farm was established by Tom’s great-grandfather, Percy Middlebrook. Back then it had no electricity, trips into town were rare and all the farm work was done by hand.

Over the years, the Middlebrook family has tapped into advancements in technology to improve their farming practices. Second-generation farmer Allen (Tom’s grandfather) saw electricity arrive when power came through the Bowman area in the mid 1930s and purchased the farm’s first tractor a decade later. With third-generation farmer Trevor (Tom’s father) at the helm, a 270-megalitre dam and solar panels were introduced.

Helping Australian Dairy Farmers

That legacy of using technology to farm continues to this day, as dairy farmers across the industry turn to innovations such as precision drones, soil probes, robots and number-crunching apps to farm as holistically and efficiently as possible.

Water security

During an extended period of severe drought and intense bushfire, the farm was sustained by the 270-megalitre dam that Trevor installed in 2000. The dam collects rainwater runoff from the hill country around it and enabled Tom to keep his dairy herd alive.

“When fire started bursting up everywhere in 2019, it felt like we were on Mars,” says Tom. “The dam meant we could keep the stock watered; we wouldn’t be here today without it.”

Tom aims to increase water security by improving on-farm water collection and irrigation. In 2018 he became involved with the Department of Primary Industries’ Irrigating for Profit project, which helps farmers understand what’s going on below ground level so they can improve their irrigation planning and decision-making.

The project involved installing moisture-measuring meters to a depth of 80cm. Using probes to measure moisture levels 15, 40 and 80cm below ground, data gets sent to a telemetry (data logging) unit, which is then available on Tom’s phone.

“Every day I can check how much moisture is in the soil. And then I have the ability to make irrigation decisions on the back of that, because the reality is, once you see a physical effect in your pasture or crop, you're already two steps behind.”

drone farming

Precision farming

Above the ground, drones are another modern technology helping farmers farm better. They can be used for monitoring crop health, spraying and seed spreading, for monitoring and mustering livestock, and for inspecting farms. Installed with advanced sensors that take images at different wavelengths (multispectral images), they can give detailed insight into how a crop is faring or where soil is dry.

Drones can be especially useful on big farms like Tom’s which, at 800ha, takes a lot of time and effort to maintain – especially as Tom grows most of the food his cows need on Bowman Farm. This is economically preferable, as buying in feed to sustain a herd as large as Tom’s can cost thousands of dollars a day.

It’s also a nutrition-based preference, as industry experts advise that high-quality forage crops should make up the bulk of a cow’s diet. So, in addition to the soil probes he uses to optimise soil conditions, Tom uses precision farming drones to protect his crops from pests and increase his chances of producing good pasture for his cows to forage on all year round. The name ‘precision farming’ alludes to the way drone technology enables farmers to program a drone to fly a particular flight path and height above crops, and seed drop or spray precisely where it’s most suited or needed.

“It’s proved an effective way of keeping on top of destructive issues in our corn crops as they grow very tall and can’t be driven on with conventional tractors or vehicles,” Tom says. “Next season I plan to use drones for mapping, seeding and fertilising too.”

Comfortable cows

Beyond closely monitoring feed quality, dairy farmers like Tom are investing in herd-monitoring collars, which allow farmers to track the comfort and wellbeing of individual cows.

Radio-frequency identification, accelerometer and microphone sensor technologies in the collars track eating and ruminating time. Together with temperature sensors, they can indicate things like illness, calving and heat stress. This provides valuable data for farmers to use in decision making.

“It sends an alert to my phone if a cow is in distress, or if she’s calving. And then I can go and find that cow and make sure she's OK. It tells me things like how much time she's spent eating that day, how much she's walked – it’s kind of like a fitness tracker around her neck.”

Elsewhere, a growing number of Australian dairy farmers are introducing robotic arms that spray disinfectant and emollient on cows’ teats after milking alongside their automatic milking systems. These protect against bacteria and help to keep cows in good health.

During the floods of March 2021, road access to the farm was flooded and Tom, his family and cows were effectively stranded. This was hard on the cows because they had no dry ground to stand or lie down on.

To avoid this in the future, Tom plans to build a state-of-the-art barn for his cows to “bunker down in” during periods of extreme weather. It will be capable of housing them for days or even weeks on end. Just like out in the field, in the barn the collars will help Tom keep a close eye on his cows, with their comfort and wellbeing in mind.

Big Technology in Australian Dairy

Big Technology in Australian Dairy

Dairy farming is more than collecting milk, and today’s equipment options reflect that. Dairy farmers and their workers have full schedules each day. The larger the herds, the more help needed with dairy farming’s day-to-day operations. To aid with the production and costs of dairy farming, a larger farm may be home to amazing technology consumers don’t know exist. From helping focus labor to providing extra luxuries to cows, this technology helps dairy farmers efficiently run their farm and control resources. Here are a handful of the different technologies that a modern dairy farmer may choose. 

Feed Robots 

It’s hard when your nose gets in the way of your food or, even worse, knocks a particularly yummy-looking selection out of reach. Instead of workers regularly coming through the barns to push the feed, some farms feature tech that continuously pushes feed up to the cows so they have a constant supply of food available. 

There’s also tech that automates food delivery. Cows can receive (within reason) as much food as they want when they want it. For the young ones, automated calf feeders provide nutrition by adjusting for the specific calf’s age as they wean off milk.  

Big Technology in Australian Dairy

Milking Machines 

Cows are milked two to three times a day, and not by hand. Cows know when it’s time for a milking and line up at the milk parlor to be attached to the milkers that gently suck the milk out of the udders, waiting patiently while workers clean their udders. To reduce the time spent milking and cleaning the parlor, some dairy farms use a rotary milker, where cows essentially wait to ride a carousel to be milked and cleaned. They look forward to their milking times twice or thrice a day! 

Another milking method is through robotic milking. Cows are given access to robotic milk systems in their barn 24 hours a day, choosing when it’s time to be milked. Building off past data (and lasers!), equipment identifies the cow once she enters, sanitizes the udder, gently collects the milk and releases the cow when she is done milking, possibly giving her a treat of pellets. This lets the cow milk the normal 2 or 3 times a day, but it also means she can milk more if needed. 

Tracking Collars and Ear Tags 

Technology is nothing without the accessories. Electronic ID collars with a tracking chip give dairy farmers vital information about the cow, tracking everything from the number of times she chews her cud in a day to how much milk she makes. Fitbit-like pedometers worn by cows send updates about the daily activities of herds and send a notification when there’s a potential problem.  

This information combined with other systems like automated feeding and milking data helps monitor animal health. Tracking milk yields, feeding habits and the daily exercise of each cow provide individualized data that can be used in the early detection of changes in routine that may relate to their health or comfort. Being in the know helps farmers know the happenings on their farm, even helping detect when a cow is going into labor! 

Big Technology in Australian Dairy

How technology has shaped Australian dairy farming

Automatic Brushers 

Cow comfort is important, too! Cows live in barns with fans and misters that keep them cool. Their bedding is made of materials that are easy to clean and recycle so they always have a clean bed to sprawl on, perhaps even a waterbed. Equipment is run regularly to clean the floors of the barn to remove mud and muck. This and all the tech above benefits cows by ensuring they receive the best individualized care they can without learning to speak English, but they won't complain about extra comforts. A fun addition that may be included are automatic brushers. These brushers are placed around the barn. When a cow has an itch she just can’t scratch, she walks up and starts the brushes. These brushes may be used on cows, but they can be such hogs about their automatic scratcher. 

Author Nerdcore Pc