Robotics transform farming

“We wanted to ease back, and our daughter and son-in-law have children, so the decision to build a robot, or voluntary automatic milking system, is about giving them better lifestyle opportunities,” they said.

“We were tiring of the old system; it was outdated when we bought the property, so it needed replacing.”

Willows Pastoral, at Murrabit in northern Victoria, has been operating under an automatic dairy milking system for nearly two years.

The McNeil family — Wayne, his son Nigel and daughter-in-law Jess — now milk their 200 cows with four GEA DairyRobot R9500s.

“The compact design of the DairyRobot R9500 can be easily integrated into our current facility,” Nigel said.

“This automatic milking system offers up to 19 per cent energy savings, reduced water consumption, and shorter milking times, making it both economical and environmentally friendly.”

Gary Zweck hosted an open day for GEA at his family’s Donava Holsteins in South Australia earlier this year.

“The labour requirements in farming can be quite intense and time-consuming,” Gary said.

“With GEA’s automatic milking system, we’ve gained more flexibility and a better work-life balance. The cows are also much happier and healthier.”

At Three Bridges Dairy in South Australia, the Krichauff family has been at the forefront of innovation.

Michael Krichauff — who took over the farm from his father, Peter— decided to upgrade to an automatic milking system with four GEA DairyRobot R9500s.

He said traditionally, the day started at around 5am for the morning milking and didn’t finish until around 7.30pm.

“Now, nobody starts work before eight in the morning, and everybody’s going home by 4.30, five o’clock in the afternoon,” Michael said.

“It’s enabled us to shift the labour from putting cups on cows to focusing on better pasture management, maintaining fences, and using the labour more efficiently.”

Chloe Krichauff, representing the fourth generation, is keen on leveraging these innovations to further enhance the farm’s operations.

“Overall farm management has improved. We are able to manage the cows with more detail due to the different data that is presented to us through this system,” Chloe said.

“The GEA robots have the ability to individually divert milk from specific quarters due to the sensors and cameras the milk passes through in the robot.

“This gives us a conductivity reading which can then be compared to the cell count data to determine which quarters are high. This way we are diverting specific quarters rather than the whole milk bag.

“We use this for catching extra milk for calves which in return lowers our cell count.

“One thing we didn’t realise this would do is save money on drugs at dry-off as you can treat specific quarters due to the data not the whole milk bag,” she said.

“These robots also have the option to have a pit behind them. We have designed our dairy with this option. Having the pit is a massive positive for us.

“If you have a cow that has failed or a heifer that keeps kicking the cups off, you have the option to take over and put them on yourselves like you would in a conventional dairy.

“The robots also have an adjustable door/grain bin which can be set depending on the size of the cow. This comes in handy when we are training heifers as we can adjust the box one size smaller to stop them from moving back and forth and kicking the cups off.”

The Vagg family, of Bonnay Jersey Dairy in Victoria, began milking more than 600 Jersey cows using eight GEA DairyRobot R9500 units in April 2025, citing increased cow and human comfort as key benefits.

“It’s been a game-changer,” Benjamin Vagg said.

“The cows come in whenever they want — and that freedom has allowed me to spend more time with our young animals, because they’re the future of our herd.”

By embracing innovation, the Williams, Krichauff, Zweck, McNeil and Vagg families have improved their operations, work-life balance and cow welfare.

But they have also ensured a sustainable and efficient future for their farms.

“It’s a great industry to be in. I couldn’t handle sitting in a city office,” said Gary Zweck’s son, Justin, who is actively involved in the farm’s operations.

“The technology we’ve adopted has not only improved our farm’s efficiency but also allowed us to spend more time with our family.”

Chloe Krichauff also sees her future in dairy.

“I believe technology in this industry will attract more people from the next generation as the work-life balance becomes more appealing,” she said.

“In the future I would like to expand the business into other areas where we can use our milk to produce products such as ice-cream and butter.”