AUTOMATIC milking is the "only way to go", according to Winnindoo dairy farmer Max Warren.
And, if anyone should know, it would be Max and his wife Evelyn.
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- Robotic milking on the rise
The couple milk 300 cows using four Lely robots at their Gippsland farm, and next month marks nine years since the last time they rose early for milking.
The Warrens were the pioneers of automatic milking in Australia and the first in the world to use robots to milk on pasture year-round.
Now robots have started to appear on dairy farms across the nation and Max could not be happier.
"I think it's wonderful for us, we were that long out here on our own," he said.
"New things take a while to catch on."
Initially, the industry did not understand how automatic milking worked.
Max said some thought it meant attaching equipment to an existing rotary dairy so it could work without staff.
However, as the technology proved itself and more farmers were exposed to the benefits, perceptions changed.
"We are so proud of what we have done," Max said.
"We are still working closely with the equipment ... and still passionate about automatic milking."
Health issues initially prompted Max and Evelyn to adopt the new technology, but later it also provided a lifestyle they had been searching for.
"We believed it was the way of the future and we wanted to get into it before we got older," Max said.
"We didn't see the point of waiting around until someone else does it."
"I wanted a job I enjoy doing. I (didn't) want to employ people to do a job I didn't enjoy doing."
The ability to continue dairy farming without being exposed to the dangers of milking cows has proven beneficial.
Looking back, the Warrens believe the "gamble" was worth it.
"You could spend the same amount of money and give someone a sentence of 20-30 years milking cows," Max said.
The process of automatic milking has been refined over the years.
After a few years, the Warrens adopted a three-way grazing strategy - moving cows on to three fresh paddocks via the robots each day - to encourage them to walk up for milking.
They have also updated software to add a pre-selection function.
Pre-selection means cows, which come to the dairy before they need to be milked, can be drafted to the side to stand in a yard with feed and water or allowed back down the paddock.
