ORGANIC FARMERS GO ROBOTIC.

Karaka father and son farming duo, David and Brian Yates, are well aware they have a pretty special place in the world. They’ve chosen to farm organically, and they say the decision was an easy one to make.

Then again, you could say that these two have always had a bit of an innovative streak. In 1977 David put in a rotary milking shed, which was ahead of its time. Today they’re not only farming organically, they’ve introduced robotic milking too. Their cows are free to wander into the milking shed whenever they choose to get milked.

As pioneers of milking robotics, David and Brian have had to work alongside the creators of the computer technology to overcome hardware problems and initial bugs in the software. Today, hearing them talk, you could be mistaken for thinking they’re both IT gurus. And listening to Brian tell his stories, you get a sense that no matter how innovative these two become, it’s all driven by their love for the land they live on.

Brian describes his joy in his work, “There will be times when you’re out in the pitch black, fetching cows, and the full moon and the stars are out. There are no clouds in the sky and the cows are all slowly getting up and walking across the paddock towards the shed. It’s just beautiful . . . and then they decide they want to kick their heels up and be silly – so you’ve got a herd of cows running around having a great time, and we’re just watching them and cracking up laughing.”