In 2013, father and son duo Micháel and Kevin Fagan from Glasson, Co Westmeath, felt they needed a change.

At that stage, they were running a beef and sheep farm, with Micháel working off-farm full-time and Kevin coming to the end of his Leaving Cert year.

With some encouragement from Micháel’s brother Eammon – a well-known dairy farmer in the area – the Fagans decided to convert their farm to a dairy unit.

Both men had always had an interest in dairy farming and with Kevin planning to go on to study dairy business in UCD after his Leaving Cert, it seemed like the right time to make the change.

However, Micháel wasn’t yet ready to give up his off-farm job and with Kevin set for four years in Dublin, the potential of robots appealed to the family.

They began looking at their options and by the end of that year, they had purchased an A4 Lely robot from Lely Mullingar. By spring 2014, they were up and running, milking 45 cows to begin with.

Expansion

Fast forward to 2019 and the Fagans had increased cow numbers close to 70, the maximum capacity of the robot. Kevin was now also working off farm, teaching in the Marist College, Athlone, and playing football with Westmeath and his club Tubberclair.

That year, a neighbour’s farm came up for lease. It was a no-brainer for the Fagans, as it would allow them to expand the milking platform to a total of 40ha.

To facilitate an increase in cow numbers, a second robot was purchased that year.

Today, the Fagans are milking 127 Holstein Friesian cows on a 40ha milking platform, stocked at 3.2 cows/ha.

Another 20ha block acts as silage ground and can be used for grazing in the shoulders of the year or in times of grass deficits.

The farm, for the most part, is limestone land and very dry. Cows are out at grass from early in February and housed in mid- to late-November.

In 2025, the herd produced 535kg MS/cow, with 1.2t meal/cow fed. Milk fat for the year was 4.65%, with a protein of 3.78%.

The herd EBI is €163, with an average six-week calving rate this year of 84%.

There is a strong focus on breeding on the farm and maintaining a compact calving pattern.

“There was a temptation initially to let breeding run on and be calving cows into June. The robot is going anyway and it would keep it busy during the winter, but we resisted falling into that trap” Micháel said.

Calving compactly is helping the Fagans to control costs and get as much grass as possible into the diet – the major driver of profitability on the farm, according to Kevin.

Grassland management

Getting grassland management on the farm right has been one of the biggest challenges for the Fagans.

Kevin started grass measuring six years ago and says he is really starting to get to grip with it now.

The farm grew 11.9t DM/ha in 2025 and Kevin is hoping they will surpass that in 2026, despite the very dry spell they experienced in July.

The main challenge with the robot is finding a balance between offering enough quality grass at each grazing but not over-allocating, as cows won’t then leave the paddock for a milking.

“We’re really targeting those 1,400kg DM/ha covers. At that cover, grass quality is typically very good and cows will graze it out better.

“Our allocations then have to be tight, to encourage cows to move for milking, but we don’t want it so tight that they are underfed,” Kevin said.

In previous years, the Fagans would have built a diet around 18kg DM cow/day. However, in the last two to three years, they have upped the allocation to 21kg DM.

They feel that a higher intake is a consequence of breeding a cow that’s more efficient with a higher EBI.

The reward of allocating more feed can be seen in the milk cheque, with cows now producing more milk at higher solids. In terms of efficiencies, the cows are now producing 0.94kg MS per kg of bodyweight.

Together, pre-grazing cover and correct allocations have become the most important metric for the Fagans, as it provides them with the comfort of knowing the system will operate smoothly, once they manage it correctly.

Any paddocks that start to grow above 1,500kg DM/ha are usually skipped and then cut for surplus bales.

They try to avoid it, but, if necessary, in the early summer months, paddocks will be topped after cows to keep stem out of the swards as much as possible.

Block grazing

Strip wires are used daily to subdivide paddocks in each of the three A, B and C grazing blocks.

Each of the blocks is open for eight hours, with cows going to the A block in the morning. Once they come in for their first milking of the day, they are then diverted to the B block. Each of the A and B blocks contain 40% of the cow’s allocation for the day.

The third block (C) is where the cows go after their afternoon/evening milking. This block is only 20% of the daily allocation.

The reason for a smaller allocation is to encourage cows to move a third time at night.

To maximise efficiency, robots need to be milking through the night and, therefore, cows need that encouragement to move.

The Fagans say it takes a bit of time to get used to the setup for both the cow and the farmer, but the cows in particular adapt quickly.

An advantage of cows moving regularly plays out in the early spring and winter grazing.

“As cows are moving after a few hours, we are doing less poaching in spring and back end. They will often go out for two or three hours at a time and come back in themselves once they’ve finished grazing.

“There’s no bunching together at a gap and this allows us to get plenty grass in the diet from early February on,” Kevin said.

Investment

When converting from beef and sheep to dairy in 2014, the robot was the main investment the Fagans had to make. There were sheds, paddocks and some basic roadways already in place.

Some of the dry sheds had to be converted to cubicles and roadways needed investment to make them suitable for robots. The drystock on the farm were sold and paid for the initial 45 cows and youngstock.

“The first robot cost €138,000 back in 2014, with the second unit costing around €80,000 in 2019. Robot prices have increased since then, but that was our spend,” said Kevin.

Secondary robot units are typically not as costly as the first unit, as the technology and infrastructure is already in place.

“In the last five years, we spent roughly another €90,000 extending the shed, building slurry tanks and upgrading roadways. All in, we’ve probably invested around €350,000 to get to where we are today,” he said.

Solar panels were also installed three years ago, which is big cost-saver in terms of electricity. Robots have a big demand for electricity, as they are essentially running 24/7.

Work-life balance

Micháel retired a number of years ago from his full-time job and this has freed him up to be around the farm whenever he’s needed.

The operation essentially runs with one and a half labour units all year and both men enjoy their lifestyle, with plenty of time for off-farm interests.

“We have huge flexibility in our day to go away for the whole day and come back to things running themselves,” Micháel said.