About Tim Gibson Ltd.

Tim Gibson Ltd is now a completely independent company, offering impartial and practical advice to farmers considering all types and makes of milking robot, together with help and supplies for those using them.

Tim still farms at Crakehall near Bedale with 250 cows milked by three robots and fed with a self build automated feeding system meaning the cows are free to milk and feed any time day or night on the 350 acre dairy and arable farm.  Tim has also held roles within the wider dairy industry including a term as a director of the National Dairy Farm Assurance Scheme and NFU Next Generation Board.

Following a successful start Tim Gibson Ltd changed into a Lely Center “franchise” in 2005 which was then sold in 2012.

Being the UK’s pioneer of robotic milking, various milking companies offered Tim sales roles in their robotic divisions, but in 2003 Tim formed Tim Gibson Ltd and became the first UK independent agent for the Lely Astronaut milking robot, offering sales, installation and ongoing support.  The business was at the forefront of the new era of milking with robots, a successful decade ensued putting the name of Tim Gibson firmly in the same context of robotic milking in the UK.

In 2003 Tim was also awarded the then Department of Trade and Industry sponsored, DEFRA backed award of “Best farming Host” following hundreds of farmers visiting his farm as part of groups and open days. The prize included a place on a fact finding tour around Europe with the heads of other category winners like IBM, Jaguar and a range of other key decision makers from other industries. Following this, with all the interest and the facts and figures behind him he started to look for a diversification away from “just” farming.

First visiting Holland in the year 2000, Tim Gibson soon became the first well known farmer to install robotic milking machines on his farm in North Yorkshire, writing about the change from conventional to robotic in “Dairy Farmer” magazine made the name synonymous with robotic miking in the UK.