TASMANIAN dairy farmers Garry and Bev Carpenter started in the industry in 1988 with just 28 dairy cows.
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Their journey includes converting a beef farm into a dairy farm, buying three milking robots during AgFest, surviving regular floods to milking 1000 cows at three locations on their peak.
The couple, who have been married for 45 years, now milk 380 dairy cows on 233 hectares at Gunns Plains, Tasmania, using seven Lely Astronaut milking robots.
How it all started
When they converted the South Riana, Tasmania, beef farm into a dairy, the Carpenters milked cows through a seven-a-side swing-over herringbone dairy.
In 1991 they bought a neighbouring farm and grew the herd to 200 cows.
In 2007 they bought another neighbouring farm and grew to 600 cows milking through a 26-a-side double-up herringbone.
In 2014 an irrigation scheme swallowed up 68ha - or about 25 per cent of their farm.
That prompted the Carpenters to look around for more farming ground in the area.
They saw a pretty piece of land available a few hundred metres around the corner at Gunns Plains.
They signed up for the land without meeting the original owner, starting with a lease agreement.
Move to robotic milking
This was also the start of their journey with robotic milking as they installed three Lely Astronaut A4 milking robots in an old hop shed.
They made the moved as they were approaching semi-retirement and wanted to enjoy more of their cows, growing grass and the sunsets on their farm.
Mr Carpenter said his body was starting to slow down but the couple wanted to continue dairy farming with an employee doing the main work.
Robots allowed them to still work with the cows without having to stand on concrete for long periods.
They had done their research on the milking robots, the different suppliers and they visited a couple of farms with robots before deciding to go with Lely, as they believed the company was more pasture oriented than other manufacturers and they had a good standing relationship with the local dealer.
They went to the large Tasmanian field day AgFest and spoke to Craig Stokes on the Lely Center Tasmania stand, where a Lely Astronaut A4 robotic milker was being displayed.
"We went to Agfest in 2014 with reasonable milk prices and we gave Craig the deposit on the spot for three milking robots and signed the agreement," Mr Carpenter said.
About three years later the couple set up a second automated farm, buying another four Lely Astronaut A4 milking robots.
The start-up phase
"During the start-up phase in 2014, Bev and Jayde (daughter) were working on the other farm with the herringbone in South Riana and we were busy with the start-up of the robots on our farm," Mr Carpenter said.
"When visiting the start-up later in the day, they were expecting to meet a team who were exhausted and that the language will not be too pretty.
"But, they found us (Garry, Craig Stokes and the start-up team) sitting on a bench nipping a whiskey and the cows where doing what they supposed to do. It was a real enjoyable moment.
"Starting up with milking robots, it was exciting. It was a relief to see the cows being milked on the farm without standing on concrete for 6-7 hours a day.
"Now I could enjoy our cows all the hours of the day and they just come in all the time. It was an excellent transition."
Mr Carpenter said growing grass and seeing his cows full of feed and milk was the most satisfying part of the job.
"Seeing a cow enjoying coming in, being milked and going back to the paddock, that's the most enjoyment I get out of my work," he said.
"For my wife Bev that is definitely mating and breeding. She is more into the genetic phase. So together you could say we are a perfect team.
Bev was more into the genetics of the cows and breeding the cows and I was more about growing grass and feeding the cows to being milked."
She loves her Holstein cows and went to a big number of shows in the past with some success.
"As a dairy farmer you need to respect what this wonderful animal does for us. She gives back a calf every year, she keeps us alive and pays our bills," Mr Carpenter said.
"We need to treat the cow with a lot of respect, it's an incredible animal."
Management of grazing and feed
On their current Gunns Plains farm, the Carpenters grow grass (225ha) and maize (8ha). Next year they plan to milk 430-440 cows.
They feed by-products such as carrots and potato-waste through a mixing wagon to supplement the grass and home-grown silage.
They use three-way grazing - or ABC grazing - for 90pc of the year.
If the winter is wet, they switch to AB-grazing and reduce the milking frequency to save pasture.
Initially Mr Carpenter said he was concerned about how he would manage grazing with robotic milking.
Even when people tried to explain how it worked on a piece of paper, he said he could not get his head around.
"In the end it wasn't worth the worry at all. In reality, grazing was no different to conventional milking," he said.
The farm has spring and autumn calving, managed by Mrs Carpenter.
The wake-up call
The couple originally planned to have three automatic-milking farms, roughly five minutes apart from each other, with share farmers on each.
The milking robots on every farm meant they could give all staff regular weekends off.
At their peak the couple had three farms: one with three milking robots, one with four milking robots and one with a 26-a-side double-up herringbone dairy. They milked about 1000 cows across the three farms.
But then at the age of 61, Mr Carpenter received a wake-up call, being diagnosed with heart disease.
This prompted them to decide to go back to dairying on one farm at one location and to enjoy life more.
So they shut down two of the dairies - the one with three milking robots and the one with the herringbone.
They combined the farms with seven milking robots.
Enjoying life
Although the couple is aiming to enjoy life more, Mr Carpenter is still a busy man still.
He is past chairman of Holstein Australia and is in his 11th year on the board, most likely his last term. He is also president of the Tasmanian North West Football League and a councillor for the Central Coast Council.
Mr Carpenter enjoys his other roles, meeting and learning from other people. As Holstein Australia president he said he met a lot of lovely people from around the world who shared the passion of breeding good cattle.
He encourages farmers to consider automatic milking. He said it was incredible for both the farmer and the cows.
"The longevity of a cow in automatic milking is unlimited," he said.
"I reckon you can let cows in automatic milking for 10-12 lactations consistently."
It was great for the farmer's lifestyle and health. He no longer had pressure on his legs, shoulders and back, the benefits of which were immeasurable.
"You can milk with AMS till you are 100 years old, because you are not psychically wearing your body parts out," he said.
"That is worth a fortune for people".
Article supplied by Lely, website www.lely.com/au.
