Boumatic Gemini double box
Family team, Brian, Margaret and Mark Price, farm their herd of 90 Freisen Hosteins in Asterley near Shrewsbury. In 2023 they had reached the point where they knew that they had to replace their existing 6/12 herringbone parlour, which was installed in 1996 because milking was taking too long and it was passed its sell by date.
Mark was spending a good deal of time off the farm working as a nutritionist and so couldn’t commit to milking the cows twice a day while Brian felt that he wanted to take a step back from being tied to the cows twice a day. So, they decided that the next stage could be robotic if they could get the economics to stack up.
They considered a few different brands but were attracted to The Boumatic Gemini because the double box offered them the ideal solution for their cow numbers and layout.
Why Boumatic?
“The nice thing about the Gemini,” explains Mark, “is that the double box can milk up to 100 cows. So, with our herd of 90 it was a great fit, as we only needed one machine. It is also modular and so the building worked required was minimum.”
So, the robot was ordered in March 2022 and Mark set about doing most of the building work himself. “We liked the idea of incorporating a pit in to the design as this would make it easier for any manually attachments or treating the cows,” continues Mark. “Apart from that it was only a case of putting slurry channels in and extending off the existing building.”
The robot was craned in and positioned straight off the lorry and they were milking a few weeks later.
Gemini Features
- Ear tag identification
- Quarter conductivity
- Blood detection
Herd Performance
The cows are housed and have access to a ration outside of 50/50 maize to grass silage worth M+22 litres, before being topped up in the robot up to a maximum of 12Kg of concentrates. The herd is very young and is made up made up of 70% first and second calvers, giving an average yield of 30 litres, visiting the robots 3.4 per day on a free access system.
The aim is to move the yield up to 35 litres per cow over the next 12 months explains Mark and to produce around 3000 litres per day. In that way we will be getting a really good return on our investment without putting huge pressure on the system.
Future Plans
The aim is to move the yield up to 35 litres per cow over the next 12 months explains Mark and to produce around 3000 litres per day. In that way we will be getting a really good return on our investment without putting huge pressure on the system.