28/01/2026
🚀 From Burnout to Breakthrough:
Robotic Dairy delivers returns three times faster than expected.
When Paul Smith stepped into his old 50‑unit rotary for the last time, he knew something had to change.
He’d grown up on the family farm in Mepunga East, milking cows since he left school at 15. For decades, long days, labour pressure, and physical strain were simply part of life — until the moment he realised they didn’t have to be.
That realisation led him to GEA’s DairyProQ robotic rotary.
As the first DairyProQ in Australia — and the first in the Southern Hemisphere running on a pasture‑based system since 2022 — it would reshape Paul’s life more than he ever expected.
A bold experiment that became a new way of living.
The lifestyle shift was immediate and profound:
💙 His labour work has been reduced significantly.
💙 He and Marsha, his wife, took their first‑ever month‑long holiday in Europe, something unimaginable before automation.
💙 Mornings no longer begin with stress — the cows walk on calmly, and the DairyProQ handles the rest.
💙 With time and headspace back, Paul now focuses on what he loves: cutting silage, improving pasture, and planning ahead.
💙 This year, he cut 4600 silage rolls, far above his usual 3000 — simply because he finally had the time.
And the business results tell an equally powerful story:
📈 The project is delivering returns three times faster than expected, on track to pay back in five years instead of 15.
🐄 800 cows milked with as little as one person on site
📉 Lower servicing and running costs than predicted
🐮 Calm cows, consistent milk quality, and automated mastitis protection.
Paul didn’t just install a dairy — he rewrote what work and life on a modern pasture‑based farm can look like.
As he says himself:
“I could train someone who hasn’t seen a cow in their life to milk my cows within 10 minutes.”
And the words that made our day:
“If I bought another farm tomorrow and had to build a dairy on it, there is no question this is what I would do again.” ❤️
👉Read full article on The Weekly Times: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/dairy/the-futuristic-6m-dairy-delivering-returns-three-times-faster-than-forecast/news-story/c0e18d0fc0e5c00b8e6183310a71e1efiv
