60 cow robot herd grazing option's

[Scania143h]

Hi all

Currently have a robot in 18 months now.
Cows calving all year round averaging 10,000 liters. In the summer I buffer feed plus zero graze by day from March till October.
Last year I run into problems with fresh cows dung being loose and bad fertility and feet. I put this down to lack off fibre in the diet.
The ideal system I think would be two groups off cows. Once cows are Pd+ incalf I would move them onto grass full time but for the fresh cows not incalf they would get full time silage until Pd+ incalf.

Of course with a robot I haven't the option to split cows into groups so I was thinking off a few ways round this.

1- zero graze and put the grass into feed trailers and separate the incalf cows with a two way gate to an open yard to eat the grass from the trailer and then a one way gate back into the cubicle shed.

2- 14 acres in two fields beside the cubicle shed, buy a graze way gate and sell the zero grazer and only let out the incalf cows.

3- Sell the zero grazer and invest in a mower and put all grass into the pit and feed silage 365 days/year.

Thanks in advance

 

[Scholsey]

Personally 3. Imagine it would make things much simpler.

 

[dairyrow]

hi. have a look at tintur holsteins in ireland. hes just put in delaval robots zero grazes and feeds them a wet fiborous stuff at the feed fence to counteract the lack of fibre. really impressive figures

 

[Milkcow365]

hi. have a look at tintur holsteins in ireland. hes just put in delaval robots zero grazes and feeds them a wet fiborous stuff at the feed fence to counteract the lack of fibre. really impressive figures

His cows are something else though !

 

[dairyrow]

Yes. But doesnt he feed a nis and sugar beet mixed with water to raise the fibre levels. Im sure he put it down maybe on the fb page. like reading his stuff

 

[Rossymons]

Number 3 sounds a reasonable shout considering the litres you're looking to produce.

Maybe even sell the zero grazer and just keep the money and get the contractor to do the mowing?

 

[Scania143h]

Contractor currently does all the grass work. Mowing raking and lifting with wagon. The only thing we do is tedding.

With mowing at £12 per acre and cutting 4x a year it soon adds up

 

[Scholsey]

Contractor currently does all the grass work. Mowing raking and lifting with wagon. The only thing we do is tedding.

With mowing at £12 per acre and cutting 4x a year it soon adds up

You wont save thousands doing it yourself by time you've bought a tidy mower, diesel in and hours on a tractor but its a satisfying job and doubt it would clash with anything else as gives you time to get your jobs done in the morning beforehand. How do you feed the cows? TMR or bunkers and blocks?

 

[Scania143h]

TMR

 

[Shep]

Your problem may be caused by too much protein and variable energy levels in grass.
Grass rested in the high 20' s for protein all last year and energy is up and down like a yo yo depending on the weather.
We've been zero grazing for 4 years and never found fibre a problem, I feed a high energy/low protein nut in the parlour to balance the protein and the high energy covers those dull cold weeks.
We had a 12% protein nut last year and it was still too high, but no one made a lower one 10% would be better.

 

[I thats it]

Contractor currently does all the grass work. Mowing raking and lifting with wagon. The only thing we do is tedding.

With mowing at £12 per acre and cutting 4x a year it soon adds up

£12 per acre for mowing? guess that includes fuel! round here it's £7 per acre without fuel

 

[The Agrarian]

It's probably not the grass to fault for your sore feet so much as too much meal.

But yes the protein too high is likely a factor.

Having done the zero graze option here for two seasons and found no particular benefit over four cut silage, we now stick with all silage. More time for the kids on Saturday and Sunday too.

 

[nonemouse]

You could maintain yields with well managed grazing, but if you’ve ONLY got 14 acres you can graze, I’m not sure it would worth the cost ofbuying the graze way gates and the hassle of getting part of the herd to graze.

 

[clem dog]

Personally 3. Imagine it would make things much simpler.

This is what I intend to do.
Maybe not as cheap way to produce milk but it will be much simpler.

 

[The Agrarian]

And simpler often ends up as cheap anyway when it's all said and done.

 

[Massey6190]

We have 2 robots and zerograze most of the year aswell we started feeding a rumen buffer sprinkled and has tightened cows dungs up a fair bit

 

[pine_guy]

Your problem may be caused by too much protein and variable energy levels in grass.
Grass rested in the high 20' s for protein all last year and energy is up and down like a yo yo depending on the weather.
We've been zero grazing for 4 years and never found fibre a problem, I feed a high energy/low protein nut in the parlour to balance the protein and the high energy covers those dull cold weeks.
We had a 12% protein nut last year and it was still too high, but no one made a lower one 10% would be better.

Sugar beet pulp. Supaflow is 10%p 12.5%ME

 

[deleted user 837354]

Sugar beet pulp. Supaflow is 10%p 12.5%ME

Never seen cows fed just that instead of cake. Would be very kind on the guts and palatable.

 

[holywell farmer]

You could maintain yields with well managed grazing, but if you’ve ONLY got 14 acres you can graze, I’m not sure it would worth the cost ofbuying the graze way gates and the hassle of getting part of the herd to graze.

Don't fields have to be close if have robots

 

[AndrewM]

eid automated sorting gate on the end of the robot? sort cows into the groups you want?