Opinions of Robots in Dairy Farming

[Scarltt3Drag0n]

Hi, I am a student in my final year at the University of South Wales, and for my final year project, I want to understand the usage of robots in dairy farming in the UK.

Can anyone offer their opinions as to using them oppose to parlours and vice versa and whether robots are sustainable?

 

[upnortheast]

Do a search for robot milking on here. Number of threads going into great detail on this

 

[early riser]

@Windmilker

 

[Windmilker]

Hi, I am a student in my final year at the University of South Wales, and for my final year project, I want to understand the usage of robots in dairy farming in the UK.

Can anyone offer their opinions as to using them oppose to parlours and vice versa and whether robots are sustainable?

I have opinions and a lot of contacts around the world I’d be happy to help. Currently in Canada but happy to help when I get back.

 

[Scarltt3Drag0n]

I have opinions and a lot of contacts around the world I’d be happy to help. Currently in Canada but happy to help when I get back.

Thank you very much, although I am doing a degree in a Science I really would like to go into agriculture in the future

 

[ollie989898]

All cows will one day be milked by robot in the UK, it is as simple as that. You won't be able to find anyone willing to work the hours milking them in a parlour.

It is the same reason robots do so much vehicle assembly. There is no bonus in having a human hand attach a milking cluster to a cow.

 

[Agrispeed]

All cows will one day be milked by robot in the UK, it is as simple as that. You won't be able to find anyone willing to work the hours milking them in a parlour.

It is the same reason robots do so much vehicle assembly. There is no bonus in having a human hand attach a milking cluster to a cow.

Not sure about that. In low input systems milking would be the only cow contact. I have a small parlour but can milk 100 an hour if I'm keen. 2 people in a decent parlour would be 200+/hr for less than the current cost of one robot. I don't think cutting 1 hour of labour a day out by using robots would make sense when your walking cows from 1hr+ away - you would still have to go and fetch some, so there would be no time gained.

I haven't seen a system using a robot on a full grazing system, with no concentrates. Possibly robotic rotors, but that would be for massive herds and no matter the drop in the cost of tech, the sheer size and amount of concrete and milking equipment isn't going to be for smaller herds.

 

[lazy farmer]

Wow.
There’s me out of a job I enjoy then

 

[Iron150]

Not sure what this is true, a lot of robot herds have still got a high labour hour per cow requirement, in my opinion a rotary is a lot more suitable for larger herds

All cows will one day be milked by robot in the UK, it is as simple as that. You won't be able to find anyone willing to work the hours milking them in a parlour.

It is the same reason robots do so much vehicle assembly. There is no bonus in having a human hand attach a milking cluster to a cow.

 

[wasted years]

All cows will one day be milked by robot in the UK, it is as simple as that. You won't be able to find anyone willing to work the hours milking them in a parlour.

It is the same reason robots do so much vehicle assembly. There is no bonus in having a human hand attach a milking cluster to a cow.

You are showing a lack of knowledge here, which is fair enough.
The big problem with robots is the same problem with parlours, skilled staff and the shortage of them.
I get on with the robot engineers very well in my patch and they spend many a night out all night repairing even the newest ones.
It is very common for them to work a 24 hr day with lots of travelling in between jobs, it's a young mans job.
The trouble being of course is that once they have some experience in the job they are burnt out, sick of the hours, weekends on and the abuse they get from farmers who expect a fix straight away.
I milk with robots and would not advise anyone to do the same if they have a parlour and can retain staff.

 

[Bald Rick]

You are showing a lack of knowledge here, which is fair enough.
The big problem with robots is the same problem with parlours, skilled staff and the shortage of them.
I get on with the robot engineers very well in my patch and they spend many a night out all night repairing even the newest ones.
It is very common for them to work a 24 hr day with lots of travelling in between jobs, it's a young mans job.
The trouble being of course is that once they have some experience in the job they are burnt out, sick of the hours, weekends on and the abuse they get from farmers who expect a fix straight away.
I milk with robots and would not advise anyone to do the same if they have a parlour and can retain staff.

Biggest issue with robots at the moment (& probable unlikely to change much if at all) is speed of attachment. Generally speaking it was around 120 secs from arm swinging in to 4 cups on which isn't bad but no where near what the mark 1 human eyeball/arm combo can achieve
Robots are a machine. Like humans, machines break down but we found them comparatively easy to repair provided that the necessary part was to hand as most of the stuff is plug 'n' play. Once you've done one sort of breakdown, you know what the problem is & how to fix it so instead of taking 2 hours whilst you figured it all out, it would take 20 minutes

Personally I think robots work well up to 200 cows/4 machines or in a large herd with multiple machines and 24 hour staff cover fetching cows, scraping up, answering alarms etc

I also think that there is a place for some robotics on a rotary eg pre and post treatment but a human needs to be cupping on & generally keeping an eye on things

 

[wasted years]

'Provided the spare part is to hand' is a very important point, Lely quite often don't have the part, but I do recognise the weakness of my system which is I rely on 1 machine.
To reduce that reliance I now have a second one going in, but it takes time to be able to buy everything.

 

[Bald Rick]

'Provided the spare part is to hand' is a very important point, Lely quite often don't have the part, but I do recognise the weakness of my system which is I rely on 1 machine.
To reduce that reliance I now have a second one going in, but it takes time to be able to buy everything.

You would stock the common parts that are most likely to fail like festos, 6 tubes and so on.
Did have some weird & wonderful failures though. One that caused the most head scratching was the plastic rollers that the arm runs on. There are 3 and one failed so the arm was ever so slightly off. Took a fair few hours for the engineer to pin that one down. By the time another robot threw up the same problem, we knew what it was and once the part was to hand, half an hour to sort

 

[ollie989898]

Not sure about that. In low input systems milking would be the only cow contact. I have a small parlour but can milk 100 an hour if I'm keen. 2 people in a decent parlour would be 200+/hr for less than the current cost of one robot. I don't think cutting 1 hour of labour a day out by using robots would make sense when your walking cows from 1hr+ away - you would still have to go and fetch some, so there would be no time gained.

I haven't seen a system using a robot on a full grazing system, with no concentrates. Possibly robotic rotors, but that would be for massive herds and no matter the drop in the cost of tech, the sheer size and amount of concrete and milking equipment isn't going to be for smaller herds.

I wish you every success. But you could not pay me enough money to milk cows manually in any parlour long term, and in my experience, I don't meet a lot of young people who want to do it, either. In fact, you will find that the British economy, as a whole, is struggling to find people who are willing to take on the unpopular or unpleasant jobs.

As farmers, you are invested in your own businesses, and have far more motivation to milk cows or sit in a seat for 12 hours a day than anyone else.

 

[ollie989898]

Not sure what this is true, a lot of robot herds have still got a high labour hour per cow requirement, in my opinion a rotary is a lot more suitable for larger herds

A lot of robot herds may well have a high labour requirement but no one is having to milk cows three times a day. They fetch cows about, trim feet, do a bit of AI and then do the feeding and beding up from the comfort of a seat. It isn't that difficult to find people who will sit on a seat.

 

[Agrispeed]

I wish you every success. But you could not pay me enough money to milk cows manually in any parlour long term, and in my experience, I don't meet a lot of young people who want to do it, either. In fact, you will find that the British economy, as a whole, is struggling to find people who are willing to take on the unpopular or unpleasant jobs.

As farmers, you are invested in your own businesses, and have far more motivation to milk cows or sit in a seat for 12 hours a day than anyone else.

I have to turn people away from working for me. I have several volunteers who do a day or two a week.

People like milking. They don't like standing in a cold pit for 8 hours, there are ways to make it enjoyable, or as quick as possible, then they can do stuff they enjoy. My whole system is built around doing as little of the sh!t jobs as possible.

I was speaking to someone who works for a big robot farm locally and he was saying that they have no lower labour on robot units, and they have a rota of people on call overnight. I'd rather start at 7 and go home at 3

 

[ollie989898]

I have to turn people away from working for me. I often have a volunteer or two who a day or two a week.

People like milking. They don't like standing in a cold pit for 8 hours, there are ways to make it enjoyable, or as quick as possible, then they can do stuff they enjoy. My whole system is built around doing as little of the sh!t jobs as possible.

I was speaking to someone who works for a big robot farm locally and he was saying that they have no lower labour on robot units, and they have a rota of people on call overnight. I'd rather start at 7 and go home at 3

At no point have I said that robots are cheaper or better or anything of the sort.

I have stated that all cows will eventually be milked by machine in my view, because you just can't find enough folk to do the job, and having a human hand attach the thing does not confer any benefit whatsoever.

Robot milking technology is in its infancy as we speak, anyone who has seen the speed and precision of CNC machines or actual robot manufacturing will recognise that there is a reason they don't use hydraulics or pneumatics for that- it's all stepper motors controlled digitally with whatever level of precision is required.

In time a robot arm will be able to attach clusters way way quicker than humans, it is just that the technology is not mature enough yet. Throw in optical recognition technology and you can get into all kinds of stuff.

There are entire industries that are just itching to remove the need for human workers because of the cost angle, let alone labour shortages.

 

[Turboman]

A lot of robot herds may well have a high labour requirement but no one is having to milk cows three times a day. They fetch cows about, trim feet, do a bit of AI and then do the feeding and beding up from the comfort of a seat. It isn't that difficult to find people who will sit on a seat.

What sort of machine can you get to bed cubicles that you can sit on a seat and manouver successfully between cows that are in your path on a robot shed? Bobmans etc are all fine for a herd that are milked in a parlour. Close groups out of cubicles and into the collecting yard then scrape/bed what ever with no interference. All the robot guys around me are having to scrape and bed cubicles by hand as they meander through the cows and some staff report that they wish the boss would put in a parlour again to give a bit of routine to the day to get on with some of the other jobs around the farm.

 

[Bald Rick]

At no point have I said that robots are cheaper or better or anything of the sort.

I have stated that all cows will eventually be milked by machine in my view, because you just can't find enough folk to do the job, and having a human hand attach the thing does not confer any benefit whatsoever.

Robot milking technology is in its infancy as we speak, anyone who has seen the speed and precision of CNC machines or actual robot manufacturing will recognise that there is a reason they don't use hydraulics or pneumatics for that- it's all stepper motors controlled digitally with whatever level of precision is required.

In time a robot arm will be able to attach clusters way way quicker than humans, it is just that the technology is not mature enough yet. Throw in optical recognition technology and you can get into all kinds of stuff.

There are entire industries that are just itching to remove the need for human workers because of the cost angle, let alone labour shortages.

Rubbish. A milking robot is dealing with a live beast that moves and wriggles at will and not a piece of steel to be welded
A robot will not match the speed of a human because it cannot react fast enough

 

[Bald Rick]

What sort of machine can you get to bed cubicles that you can sit on a seat and manouver successfully between cows that are in your path on a robot shed? Bobmans etc are all fine for a herd that are milked in a parlour. Close groups out of cubicles and into the collecting yard then scrape/bed what ever with no interference. All the robot guys around me are having to scrape and bed cubicles by hand as they meander through the cows and some staff report that they wish the boss would put in a parlour again to give a bit of routine to the day to get on with some of the other jobs around the farm.

Actually we used both a bobman and a skid steer to scrape and bed over 400 cubicles in three robot sheds.
Mind you, it’s much easier now the cows go off to be milked