The automatic milking system installed on the Teagasc farm at Kilworth, Co Cork, has been switched off, possibly for good.

I'm told changes in staff personnel at the facility led to the decision to mothball the machine.

The cows which were on the robot are now being milked in the existing herringbone parlour on the farm.

Research on automatic milking systems has been stop-start in Moorepark. The initial study commenced in 2013 using a Fullwood machine and looked at the performance of robots under different milking frequencies.

Funded

This machine was subsequently replaced by a Lely machine in 2016 with the aim of establishing a 100-cow herd. It is understood that while Teagasc purchased the machine, the experiment was being funded by Lely.