Need advice, one or two robots

[David el farmer]

Hi everyone I've been hanging around for a while reading a bunch of useful information on the forum and now I've got a couple of questions.

First, let me introduce the farm, we have a dairy farm in canada milking about 55 holsteins plus all the replacement cattle.

We are working on a project to retrofit the barn to put robot on and for a bunch of reasons we will also change our holstein for jersey cattle ( place in actual barn, feed storage, manure storage, rusticity of the cow etc) and with all the sketch made and we would have about 65 cubicles for our cows in milk and we would like to maximize that so my question is we are playing with the idea of putting either one new robot or two used ones for about the same price.

I would like to hear opinions pros and cons. I know that a robot is usually at its best around 55 ish cows but I was wondering since we'll change for jersey and they're giving less milk would mean less time per milking so more potential cows on one bot?

Two would be less stressful if one break up but they are not new either and I kind of lean toward newest technology, but hey I can change my minds that why I am asking around.

We are looking for lely or gea or maybe delaval too all three dealers within 30 issh minutes from the farm.

Thanks for the advice and great forum

 

[Bald Rick]

We had Jerseys on robots and can & did have up to 70 per machine. As a rule of thumb, you have 23 hours max to milk in so slow cows will bog the system down as you need to be running at x3 milkings per day minimum

The real downside is an major breakdown quickly builds a backlog that can take 24 hours or more to sort and means a lot of cow fetching.
However they are not cheap to run and by putting two in, you would be in "luxury" mode for the number of cows you suggest.

As for brand, dealer back up is absolute key even when you are comfortable with robots. Having said that, Lely have been at the game for longer than other brands and they would be my initial go to.

 

[David el farmer]

We had Jerseys on robots and can & did have up to 70 per machine. As a rule of thumb, you have 23 hours max to milk in so slow cows will bog the system down as you need to be running at x3 milkings per day minimum

The real downside is an major breakdown quickly builds a backlog that can take 24 hours or more to sort and means a lot of cow fetching.
However they are not cheap to run and by putting two in, you would be in "luxury" mode for the number of cows you suggest.

As for brand, dealer back up is absolute key even when you are comfortable with robots. Having said that, Lely have been at the game for longer than other brands and they would be my initial go to.

Sweet, happy to hear that 70 is feasible. Yeah I heard about it that even a good producing cow may not suit the system because she's taking to much time milking , hopefully since we will buy cows that are already on bots we can check for all that information etc..

It was actually one of my question as well the running cost of two used a4 versus one new a5 let say, even if they are both milking less cows at the end of the day its still more expensive to run two than one.

Good to know, I feel like reps from the dealer as soon as you reach 60 cows they want to sell you another one, I don't mind fetching cows here there, I'm working with my brother and my dad so we can all have time off pretty easily. Thanks for you advice

 

[FarmerWasty]

Yup 1 new bot 70 jerseys no bother. 70 Jersey is like 50 holsteins + they love the bots.

 

[David el farmer]

Yup 1 new bot 70 jerseys no bother. 70 Jersey is like 50 holsteins +

Hehe yeah that's what I've heard jersey get use to robotic really quick, they're like puppies once they understand there is cake at the robot

 

[Bald Rick]

@David el farmer ......... why don't you PM @Peter as I believe he fits (Lely) robots in Canada and could be an immense help to you?

I realise that Canada is a BIG place but you never know

 

[Peter]

Hi everyone I've been hanging around for a while reading a bunch of useful information on the forum and now I've got a couple of questions.

First, let me introduce the farm, we have a dairy farm in canada milking about 55 holsteins plus all the replacement cattle.

We are working on a project to retrofit the barn to put robot on and for a bunch of reasons we will also change our holstein for jersey cattle ( place in actual barn, feed storage, manure storage, rusticity of the cow etc) and with all the sketch made and we would have about 65 cubicles for our cows in milk and we would like to maximize that so my question is we are playing with the idea of putting either one new robot or two used ones for about the same price.

I would like to hear opinions pros and cons. I know that a robot is usually at its best around 55 ish cows but I was wondering since we'll change for jersey and they're giving less milk would mean less time per milking so more potential cows on one bot?

Two would be less stressful if one break up but they are not new either and I kind of lean toward newest technology, but hey I can change my minds that why I am asking around.

We are looking for lely or gea or maybe delaval too all three dealers within 30 issh minutes from the farm.

Thanks for the advice and great forum

Lots of valid points brought up above. What end of the country you in? Just wondering if I would know your local dealers. Pros and cons to both ways. Just think a head into the future. Plan for the expansion. Start with one with the slot planned for the second, third. Many farms in my working area have started with bare minimum, then added the second, third, fourth ( a couple of farms started with one and are now up to 6) Think of 5-10 years down the road. Think in terms of litres of production rather than numbers of bodies. When I started with Lely in 2000 the goal was 30kilo average. Now it is 40 to 45+, if not getting near that, look for what is not working. Investigate the dealer history, support and service techs. Just because they are close does not necessarily mean? Had a high turn over of staff? Spend some time with their longest running robot farms. Good time of year to be doing your research. I will be back with more thoughts for you.

 

[David el farmer]

Lots of valid points brought up above. What end of the country you in? Just wondering if I would know your local dealers. Pros and cons to both ways. Just think a head into the future. Plan for the expansion. Start with one with the slot planned for the second, third. Many farms in my working area have started with bare minimum, then added the second, third, fourth ( a couple of farms started with one and are now up to 6) Think of 5-10 years down the road. Think in terms of litres of production rather than numbers of bodies. When I started with Lely in 2000 the goal was 30kilo average. Now it is 40 to 45+, if not getting near that, look for what is not working. Investigate the dealer history, support and service techs. Just because they are close does not necessarily mean? Had a high turn over of staff? Spend some time with their longest running robot farms. Good time of year to be doing your research. I will be back with more thoughts for you.

I'm located pretty much in the area in Canada with the most dairy farms, central Québec. There's no shortage of farms to visit, it's just that there isn't many with jerseys so that's why I was curious on opinions from across the pond


It was already the plan let say if we put one to have all the fitting ready for a second one. Right now we were trying to make the best of the existing stall thats why we ended up with 65 cubicles without opening a wall. Then if we want to go further we have to make a new manure pit because the the old one is too small and in the way of barn.

I know at the end it's not the numbers of cows but litres that count but since we are already milking 55 holsteins that give 36kg on average (milking twice a day), and we are switching to jerseys, I think if we want to increase our production by 5 or 10 %, we will definitely be milking 65 jerseys


Thanks

 

[Peter]

I'm located pretty much in the area in Canada with the most dairy farms, central Québec. There's no shortage of farms to visit, it's just that there isn't many with jerseys so that's why I was curious on opinions from across the pond


It was already the plan let say if we put one to have all the fitting ready for a second one. Right now we were trying to make the best of the existing stall thats why we ended up with 65 cubicles without opening a wall. Then if we want to go further we have to make a new manure pit because the the old one is too small and in the way of barn.

I know at the end it's not the numbers of cows but litres that count but since we are already milking 55 holsteins that give 36kg on average (milking twice a day), and we are switching to jerseys, I think if we want to increase our production by 5 or 10 %, we will definitely be milking 65 jerseys


Thanks

In the townships, how far from Sherbrooke? There are some jersey farms. Talking to the farmers themselves would give you the best insight. https://jerseycanada.com/ may get you contacts. Had a farm in my home area that had got up to 75 Holsteins on one robot. They did well but in their words "it's no fun" everything has to work perfect. Get one heifer that messes about for half an hour and the next 24 are messed up. Main thing in my mind and from what I have experienced, don't start with the 65. Work your way up to that. The jersey's do train up to robot real easy. It is all management. The couple of jersey farms I installed they feed in the robots for a week before milking. The startup was a breeze. If you tried to stop one from going into the robot she would run you over. There is a robot thread on here too, have a read through it.

 

[David el farmer]

In the townships, how far from Sherbrooke? There are some jersey farms. Talking to the farmers themselves would give you the best insight. https://jerseycanada.com/ may get you contacts. Had a farm in my home area that had got up to 75 Holsteins on one robot. They did well but in their words "it's no fun" everything has to work perfect. Get one heifer that messes about for half an hour and the next 24 are messed up. Main thing in my mind and from what I have experienced, don't start with the 65. Work your way up to that. The jersey's do train up to robot real easy. It is all management. The couple of jersey farms I installed they feed in the robots for a week before milking. The startup was a breeze. If you tried to stop one from going into the robot she would run you over. There is a robot thread on here too, have a read through it.

We're about 2 hours from Sherbrooke, I did my homework already I contacted jersey canada and they gave me contacts we visited 6 or 7 jersey jersey farms with robot in our area. One of them was pushing 65 to 70 jerseys regularly on one a4 making nearly 100kg of quota pretty impressive so I know it's possible but he told us 65 it's Allright, 70 it's pushing it. So that that's why my main question was either two used or one new but reading you guys I feel that in our situation it's probably better pushing one hard and once it's time make the shed bigger, then add another bot. We will probably start with 50 ishh we will buy 20-30 jerseys and keep the heifers and first lactation holsyeins to start with to make the move cheaper.

And I think went through all the robot threads around I've been reading for a while.

Thanks for the advice

 

[suffolksmallholder]

I wish my friend Robin Ludlow could get involved with this conversation. He loved his Jersey’s but being a tenant farmer became impossible.
Clever, caring man and a mine of information on how to look after a milking herd.
SS