The world’s largest robotic dairy installation under one roof is now in operation on a South Canterbury dairy farm in New Zealand, with 24 DeLaval voluntary milking system (VMS) robots.

The 1,500-cow barn with cost in excess of €13 million in Makikhi South Canterbury has gone from milking zero to 750 cows in just seven days in just half the space available.

The barn is expected to be running at full capacity by the end of the year.

Technical details

“On this farm there is no artificial fertiliser. What comes out of the barn is recycled and goes back on to the farm,” says owner Aad van Leeuwen.

“We have proved to the authorities that what we are doing here is sustainable. As we have a contracting business, the farm grows all its own feed for the cows on surrounding land and so completes the cycle of a completely self-sufficient farm. Our goal is to focus on milk solids and not push volume ; we want to be sustainable,” he adds.