Dairy farmers select their top five time savers

Dairy farmers were asked to select their top five time savers at the Moorepark Open Day, Marion Beecher, Bernadette O’Brien and Conor Hogan tell us more.

Large crowds attended the Moorepark Open Day on July 4^th 2023, which focussed on building resilient dairy farm systems. One important aspect of a resilient system is a sustainable workload. The dairy industry is currently experiencing significant challenges regarding labour availability and achieving an adequate work-life balance for the farmer/ farm family. A number of research studies aiming to address these issues were conducted in recent years and the results were presented at the open day.

One recent research study identified 59 work practices and technologies as time savers and these were presented using a visual display board at the 2023 Moorepark Open Day. Work practices/ technologies (time savers) were grouped by their associated task and each item was represented by an image and brief description (Figure 1). On the day, farmers were asked to identify their top five time savers by placing a sticker next to the pictures of choice. From the attendees, approximately 150 farmers engaged with the exercise, giving a broad representation of farmers.

Time savers

The top 5 time savers (associated task in brackets) selected by farmers were:

• Automatic cluster removers (milking);
• Getting contractor to spread all slurry (grassland management);
• Automatic calf feeders (calf care);
• Automatic heat detection aids (cow care);
• Drafting facilities (milking).

The work practices and technologies selected represented those that farmers viewed as the most effective strategies available to them to save time. There is the potential to save 5.04 hours/cow during the February to June period by implementing automatic cluster removers, getting contractors to spread all slurry and using automatic calf feeders. Of the items selected, automatic cluster removers offer the greatest time saving benefit, followed by getting contractors to spread all slurry and automatic calf feeders.

With other time saving strategies, such as automatic heat detection aids and drafting facilities, the reduction in the physical intensity of work should also be considered; where physical work is replaced with management tasks. In addition, they may also offer other benefits that are difficult to quantify, such as improved health and safety. For example, automatic drafting reduces the interaction with animals in confined spaces while automatic heat detection aids allow the opportunity not to have a bull on-farm.

Figure 1

Considerations for implementation

While a number of time saving strategies have been identified through research and by farmers, the implementation of such strategies require further consideration. Many of the strategies identified incur a cost, which in some cases, the farmer may not wish to spend. However, the cost may be lessened when the farmers own time costs are considered. For example, if contractors are employed, they generally have more efficient equipment, reducing the time spent at the task and the farmer has a lower requirement for machinery.  Consequently, farm machinery running costs and depreciation, which can account for 60% of total machinery costs on-farm, are reduced. Equally, some of the strategies do not require any financial input, but instead, require a change of habit, which can sometimes be difficult, e.g., not leaving the parlour during milking in order to feed calves.

The ease of technology implementation is also an important consideration. Certain technologies such as automatic heat detection aids can reduce the mental workload of the farmer by identifying the correct time to inseminate a cow. Yet other technologies have the potential to increase the mental burden through the volume of information/ data produced, making it difficult to establish what information is key for decision making. Therefore, the degree of comfort that a farmer has with smart technology and computers/ smartphones may determine whether a technology is adopted or not.  

Certain practices and technologies may not suit some farmers but the wide variety of practices and technologies associated with saving time means that most farmers will have a selection of options available to suit their own individual situation. The suitability of each practice and technology will be dictated by the farmer’s capability, farm size, maturity of business and financial stability. When deciding what practice or technology to implement it is important to consider the potential timesaving, financial cost, robustness of the technology, as well as ease of implementation.

Conclusion

There is a wide variety of work practices/ technologies (time savers) available to farmers to reduce labour demand. The most popular time savers chosen by farmers at the Moorepark Open Day included automatic cluster removers, using contractors to spread slurry and automatic calf feeders. Collectively, these practices/ technologies can have a significant positive impact on labour demand, and the time savings could be reinvested in management tasks or in personal activities. While some of the time savers require capital expenditure, others may not, are focused on improved work organisation, and so should be relatively easy to implement. When deciding what work practices/ technologies (time savers) to implement, the benefit, ease of implementation and capital expenditure required should be considered.