Limefield
Member
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Very glad to hear it works and is "doo able"
How much is a grazeway gate?
How much is a grazeway gate?
Robot Summer Options
- Thread starter surprisefarmer
- Start date
Chips
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
Mine was just shy of £3k , but that was just shy of 10yrs ago !
- Location
- South Molton
Turned ours out yesterday for first day and over half had returned to the yard and been through the robots in 4 hours.
surprisefarmer
Member
- Location
- North West NI
I think the Lely gate is £4,500, depending on exchange rate
We just have a separation gate at the exit of the robot, I think it was about £1500 at the time (6 years) but it was part of the 'deal'. Acess to the fields is through our separation area. Cows can only go out to the field or kept in house, so basically A grazing. They must go through the robot to get out to grass. They come in through a 1 way gate which means they can only get back out again by visiting the robot. Had to do this after the first year, as we had heifers come in during the day and if there were a few cows milking or waiting, they just turned and headed back out to the field. Also means that from 5pm all cows can be kept in the house.
Limefield
Member
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Yin ewe I think that's exactly what I am thinking of-same as yours. Does yours work well re give good cow flow when out at grass and good usage of the robot? Do you have to turn off water in fields etc??
More to life
Member
- Location
- Somerset
If grazing is important to you a parlour big enough to milk in under an hour has to be the easiest option.
Limefield
Member
- Location
- Northern Ireland
I know where you are coming from "More to Life", but i am getting older now and with the weather patterns we are having here in Northern Ireland the cows are in 8 months of the year now anyway -so just would like to be able to do bit grazing in summer months if weather allows.
surprisefarmer
Member
- Location
- North West NI
I had considered a parlour, but with the situation of no family help for at least another 14 years, and not wanting to have to work with staff anymore, I decided that robots would suit my wife and I best.
Milkcow365
Member
- Location
- Sw Scotland
I think robots will work great in this situation,
Limefield
Member
- Location
- Northern Ireland
I hope so too Thomas. Its certainly not that i am being in any way lazy as some farmers seem to portray robot farms, for me its a combination of age, weather and trying to have a wee bit better quality of life. I'm happy enough to be on call as i'm around or about the farm all the time anyway - i just dont want to be rigidly tied to 6.30am and 6.30pm anymore - bit of flexibility.
- Location
- Northern Ireland
I don't graze, first and foremost for farm structure reasons.
With respect to all of the grazing roboteers, i can only really see grazing as a token gesture in these sytems. I think it's next to impossible to graze properly, certainly in the terms we used to use when grazing. If cows go out in dribs and drabs, the first half of the cows get the fresh grazing, and the second get the stuff that's been grazed over/lay on/sh!t on. And you ask the second half to clean that all up so it's grazed down properly. And while theyre buffer fed at night it's harder to send them all out with a consistent edge on their appetite.
With respect to all of the grazing roboteers, i can only really see grazing as a token gesture in these sytems. I think it's next to impossible to graze properly, certainly in the terms we used to use when grazing. If cows go out in dribs and drabs, the first half of the cows get the fresh grazing, and the second get the stuff that's been grazed over/lay on/sh!t on. And you ask the second half to clean that all up so it's grazed down properly. And while theyre buffer fed at night it's harder to send them all out with a consistent edge on their appetite.
Chips
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
The above does happen if you offer buffer like myself so as to maintain higher yield quality , however if you remove the buffer and adopt ABC grazing or even ABCD you negate a lot of those problems as the later cows go to a new paddock while the earlier ones are still grazing out an older paddock , thus a single cow will not go into every block during the day IYSWIM . This then is little different to parlour milking in terms of grazing out paddocks , if you offer buffer they will always be lazy grazers
- Location
- M6 Hard shoulder
If you are managing your cows properly you will not be lazy, your working day will be structured differently to a conventional system but alot less ridgid.
supercow
Member
- Location
- Dumfriesshire
These guys aren't exactly going to admit to making a wrong decision are they!!
- Location
- Northumberland
You are out of order with that comment.
You must never have been to well run robot farms
supercow
Member
- Location
- Dumfriesshire
Ohh calm down. Couple of pals swear by them, I also hear of more getting ripped out than put in
- Location
- South Molton
Wait until the grant ones are up amd running then you will see some ripped out!
supercow
Member
- Location
- Dumfriesshire
- Location
- South Molton
5 years