Using Water to Produce Milk
A single cow can produce up to 10,000 litres of milk in a year, usually 305 days, from the time that she has a calf through to when she is turned out in preparation for to give birth to the new seasons calf.
During this time the cow will drink 24,000 litres of water, eat 20 ton of forage (grass, hay and silage) (average dry matter 20%) and 2.5 tonnes of supplementary feed (pelleted feed, grain and other additives) to produce 10,000 litres of milk, 15 tonnes of manure and 12,000 litres of urine. The liquid and solid waste from the cow is recycled as nutrients back onto the land to produce more grass.
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Milk from our cows is stored in a refrigerated vat and collected each second day by a tanker from the Bonlac Factory. At the factory the milk is treated for inclusion into a wide range of foods, most common are fresh milk, cheese and butter.
Grass is the staple diet for a cow on our farm and is grown in paddocks divided by electric fencing. Laneways between the Robotic Dairy and the paddocks give access for the cows to new pasture (grass) each 12 hours.
Supplementary feed in the form of grain mixed with vitamins and mineral additives ensures that the cows get a balanced diet.
The supplementary feed supplied by Ridley is stored in silos and delivered into the robotic feed stations. The cow 3442 is about to enter a feed station, see the back scratcher, click on the brush to see what happens.
Each year the cow has a calf, either in the Autumn or Spring, female calves are kept as replacements in the herd, male calves are sold.
The waste produced by a cow consisting of liquid and solids is either deposited in the paddock by the cow or in the dairy during the milking time. Paddocks are harrowed to spread the waste and the dairy waste is flushed into an effluent pond and recycled onto the pasture as a nutrient rich fertilizer introduced into the farm irrigation system.
