Academy Farm Integrates Water Buffalo with Robotic Milking and Residential Training
Academy Farm, near Surrey, British Columbia, manages about 450 water buffalo, including 150 milking animals. The farm uses three DeLaval VMS 300 robotic milking units. Its operation is part of the John Volken Academy, a non-profit foundation that provides long-term residential life-skills training and addiction-recovery programmes for young adults through structured vocational agriculture.
The farm’s production model is based on milk components rather than volume. Water buffalo produce about 9.5 litres of milk a day under comparable baseline dry-matter feed intake, while conventional Holsteins average roughly 38 to 57 litres. Academy Farm directs about one-third of its milk into artisanal cheese, using the buffalo milk’s higher butterfat and solids-not-fat content, as well as its naturally occurring A2 beta-casein profile. The products are sold through retail and foodservice channels.
Introducing the animals to robotic milking required staged conditioning. Managers first brought the buffalo into the robotic stalls without turning on the milking equipment. They then added teat cleaning and laser-guided cup attachment as the animals became accustomed to the process. The milking herd now makes an average of 2.8 to 2.9 voluntary visits to the robots each day.
The facility retains a six-stall herringbone parlour for animals that need manual handling. Its housing system combines freestalls with bedded-pack barns. This arrangement allows the farm to use automated milking while retaining a separate system for individual animals.
The buffalo’s horns have required changes to the buildings and equipment. The animals keep their natural horns, which contribute to heat dissipation because the species has limited sweat-gland efficiency. Academy Farm therefore uses reinforced steel and solid concrete in areas exposed to rubbing and impact. Wooden gates, exposed conduits and standard water-trough plungers have been replaced with stronger fittings, and the barns include heavy-duty rotating brushes.
According to the farm’s operating account, water buffalo have shown biological hardiness, a lower incidence of clinical mastitis and limited vaccination requirements compared with conventional dairy breeds. In addition to milk and cheese, Academy Farm has developed on-farm retail and commercial agritourism. The operation combines the buffalo herd, robotic milking, processing and the John Volken Academy’s residential vocational programme.
