Robotic Milker Price

[Magners]

We will have been going 8 years this August, paying it on hp, although service is paid direct to our lely center. Breakdown is £95 call out and £30/ hour once in the yard, but I can't honestly remember the last time I had a call out (I know I have just jinxed myself). I can sort most breakdowns and usually meet an engineer somewhere to pick up the parts. Not sure what chemicals cost/ month as I haven't looked at it, you need dairy chemicals, teat spray etc regardless of your milking system.
I know that there are different reasons why people can't or don't want finance, but I don't see the point in leasing something for around the same price of hp and not have anything to show for it at the end.

okay I agree, It's probably the same reason why people rent a house rather than buy one ?
With people like us who can fix their own robots , I agree, why pay for an all inclusive package ? that's why I am offering other options. you or I would probably buy the VMS (okay you would probably buy a Lely) that's currently on ebay for £15,000, sold as seen. we would then repair it, install it and be happy. that's option 1
Option 2 is to buy the robot fully updated and fully repaired complete with all the parts needed to install it for £28,000.
and then there is option 3 - the leasing option for the people who want to have a fixed cost for the next 5 years and maybe longer so they can budget to the penny.

 

[Magners]

If you decide to keep the robot is there any extra payment to be made ?
Is water and electricity costs included in your 2.5-4ppl ?

if you want to keep the robot after the 5 years, than you just keep paying the £50 a day.
No the electric and water isn't included in the 2.5 to 4 p per litre

DeLaval quote electric just for the VMS at 38 Kwh per a vms per a day. I'm sure its nearer 50 Kwh per a day.
The water usage is fairly high on a VMS around 1000 litres per a day. But that can be slit to main and bore hole or well water. mains is around 500 litres per a day. 70 litres per a system wash x 3 washes per a day.(210 litres) you can use less on shorter milk lines, but I'm trying to be honest. then we use 1.2 litres per a cow to wash the teats, so with 150 milkings that's 50 cows 3 milkings per a day (180 litres) then the back flush between cows probably around a litre per a cow as we also clean the outside of the teat cups and the milk tubes,so probably another 150 litres.
the rest of the water is used when we wash the floor between cows,but this can be bore hole water. But I don't then use any water to clean the VMS down with manually apart from once a month when I pressure clean it. other makes you probably use a lot of water when you manually wash it down twice a day .
what do the other VMS users think ?

 

[Magners]

What colour robot did you work with last time ?

I had an old Fullwood Merlin. it worked, but I did struggle to milk the heifer I bred one year, I used "Patron" and "Lord Lily", lovely heifers, but the udders were high and they were high at the back and they had a big low belly. the arm can up and hit the belly and that stopped the teat cups getting close to the teats. So unfortunately I had to sell a lot of my heifers the last year when I was a closed herd and I needed them. I don't have this problem with the DeLaval VMS. also we can manually attach with a DeLaval so if you do have a problem heifer you can simply attach the teat cups for a few days if you want to. I didn't manually attach any of the 17 heifer that I brought into the herd this year. But it's lovey to have that option.

 

[Magners]

Top post, well balanced view.

Thank you,

 

[Magners]

Interesting and spot on AJ, you may of heard that mine is coming out this Autumn, Covid 19 permitted .Son is now 21, can you believe, and much prefers milking ( milks 600 next door) Ours Ayrshire and Red Holstein now grazing 24hrs plus Zerograze and a mouthful of silage plus concentrate shown on monitor board attached. 4.59% fat 3.51% protein. DH

Hi Seasider, great to hear from you, Yes I had heard you were taking it out, I was disappointed to hear that as you have done a great job, but we certainly had some ups and downs along the way. I can remember your start up and those first few cows kicking the sh!t out of the VMS and the look on your face. How long have you had the VMS ? I'm guessing 10 years?
It's a shame you are taking it out, I could sell you and 2nd one but like I said in another post. if you like milking cows, stick a nice DeLaval parlour in and milk away !
that brilliant results, and it proves that grazing on robots works. and you're using less cake than me, I have just cut mine back a bit more now we have had some rain. Did you see the drone footage I took of our farm ?

I'm still learning to fly it !
Good luck with the new venture

 

[Sid]

Hi Seasider, great to hear from you, Yes I had heard you were taking it out, I was disappointed to hear that as you have done a great job, but we certainly had some ups and downs along the way. I can remember your start up and those first few cows kicking the sh!t out of the VMS and the look on your face. How long have you had the VMS ? I'm guessing 10 years?
It's a shame you are taking it out, I could sell you and 2nd one but like I said in another post. if you like milking cows, stick a nice DeLaval parlour in and milk away !
that brilliant results, and it proves that grazing on robots works. and you're using less cake than me, I have just cut mine back a bit more now we have had some rain. Did you see the drone footage I took of our farm ?

I'm still learning to fly it !
Good luck with the new venture

Covers a bit high for the first paddock you see.

Higher cover block, ours is B atm, we find best grazed over night, we set a longer grazing period overnight and they all tend to come in 1st thing in the morning.

 

[Sid]

Hi Seasider, great to hear from you, Yes I had heard you were taking it out, I was disappointed to hear that as you have done a great job, but we certainly had some ups and downs along the way. I can remember your start up and those first few cows kicking the sh!t out of the VMS and the look on your face. How long have you had the VMS ? I'm guessing 10 years?
It's a shame you are taking it out, I could sell you and 2nd one but like I said in another post. if you like milking cows, stick a nice DeLaval parlour in and milk away !
that brilliant results, and it proves that grazing on robots works. and you're using less cake than me, I have just cut mine back a bit more now we have had some rain. Did you see the drone footage I took of our farm ?

I'm still learning to fly it !
Good luck with the new venture

Covered in the slurry store as well....must be money in pigs ?

 

[Seasider]

Hi Seasider, great to hear from you, Yes I had heard you were taking it out, I was disappointed to hear that as you have done a great job, but we certainly had some ups and downs along the way. I can remember your start up and those first few cows kicking the sh!t out of the VMS and the look on your face. How long have you had the VMS ? I'm guessing 10 years?
It's a shame you are taking it out, I could sell you and 2nd one but like I said in another post. if you like milking cows, stick a nice DeLaval parlour in and milk away !
that brilliant results, and it proves that grazing on robots works. and you're using less cake than me, I have just cut mine back a bit more now we have had some rain. Did you see the drone footage I took of our farm ?

I'm still learning to fly it !
Good luck with the new venture

Cheers Magners, yep we in our 11th year! That startup is etched on my brains forever ?. Tried to lease a v300 from delaval but they wouldn’t, my son would have gone for that but to be fair we need to milk 80-90 to maximise farm facilities to justify his employ and he likes the milking ( done and dusted ) lifestyle. Plan to install 16x16 Delaval HB50 auto ID with mm27 metres. Yep seen your website are you using 3 way grazing... just started here using 2 way gate and manually moving gate at 6am and between 4-9 pm whenever we are about. Good luck with your new venture too?

 

[Magners]

Covers a bit high for the first paddock you see.

Higher cover block, ours is B atm, we find best grazed over night, we set a longer grazing period overnight and they all tend to come in 1st thing in the morning.

Hi Sid,
I would have normally pre cut this (But I nearly broke my ankle last week so I haven't been able to drive the tractor, so I have had to ask my poor mum to move the fence and leave it at that.) as this hasn't been cut since September I think it was, I try to go around the whole farm as quick as possible at the start of the year and either pre cut and graze or cut and collect and feed it inside. then I give it a good does of cow slurry, I use all my slurry application allowance for the first 2 cuts and then nothing till the following year. worked well last year, fingers crossed it will this year. I'm probably doing it all wrong, oh well.
That field they are in at the moment will become night and day paddocks and it needs to last me 20 plus days, The grass is nearly up to my knees at the bottom of the field so it will be pre cut. then slurried. I will get away with the mature pre cut grass because the cows will be going dry next month. If I had 200 acres I wouldn't be doing it like this. but we only have 120 acres.

 

[Magners]

Covered in the slurry store as well....must be money in pigs ?

yes that was money well spent, The cows actually paid for it and with a Mid tier grant. The pigs didn't pay for much this year !

 

[Magners]

Cheers Magners, yep we in our 11th year! That startup is etched on my brains forever ?. Tried to lease a v300 from delaval but they wouldn’t, my son would have gone for that but to be fair we need to milk 80-90 to maximise farm facilities to justify his employ and he likes the milking ( done and dusted ) lifestyle. Plan to install 16x16 Delaval HB50 auto ID with mm27 metres. Yep seen your website are you using 3 way grazing... just started here using 2 way gate and manually moving gate at 6am and between 4-9 pm whenever we are about. Good luck with your new venture too?

What a shame, you could have installed the V300 beside your Classic and had a great life. I know a couple of farms who have done that, they are putting any of the harder to attach cows on the V300 as they are on a guided system, But on the farm I saw in France the cows could choose which VMS they can use and the farmer said that the problem cows soon learnt to use the V300 and the other cows continued to use the classics, he was well impressed.

No I'm just on AB - 2 way grazing. I think 3 way is easier to manage (Is that right Sid?) I found last year I had to keep changing times the gate changes other wise they came back early then just stood round in the shed a bit to much. I'm currently putting them into Paddock A at 23:00 and B at noon. I have rather a lot of cows in the shed around 11 am as they are keen to get to the better grass in paddock A but it has been worse since we had a TB test 10 days ago and I had to bring them in around 11 am.

 

[Sid]

Hi Sid,
I would have normally pre cut this (But I nearly broke my ankle last week so I haven't been able to drive the tractor, so I have had to ask my poor mum to move the fence and leave it at that.) as this hasn't been cut since September I think it was, I try to go around the whole farm as quick as possible at the start of the year and either pre cut and graze or cut and collect and feed it inside. then I give it a good does of cow slurry, I use all my slurry application allowance for the first 2 cuts and then nothing till the following year. worked well last year, fingers crossed it will this year. I'm probably doing it all wrong, oh well.
That field they are in at the moment will become night and day paddocks and it needs to last me 20 plus days, The grass is nearly up to my knees at the bottom of the field so it will be pre cut. then slurried. I will get away with the mature pre cut grass because the cows will be going dry next month. If I had 200 acres I wouldn't be doing it like this. but we only have 120 acres.

Ouch, too much magners, magners ?

Sounds like you will have some nice standing hay for the drys then!

I think 3 way is easier to manage (Is that right Sid?)

Defo easier with 3 ways( you told me it would be)

A is 6am to 12 midday ( short of grazing in these paddocks)
C is 12 til 7pm
B is 7pm to 6am ( lots of grass)

When cows first go out its 2 paddocks to encourage them to move

 

[dairymandave]

I have been reading a lot of the threads on this forum for a while now. I currently work away from the farm 40 hours a week and Dad is at home full time. Currently we have around 72-75 cows milking all year round (total cows around 90) and breed our own replacements.
Its getting to the stage where dad isn't fit for full time farming anymore and we need to start looking at the best way forward. there is a mountain of great info on here for pros and cons for robots and I think I'd like to go down the robot route as getting a relief milker round here is near impossible. I'd still like to graze the cows during the day but would need to keep them in at night as we only have 15-18 acres access to grass before we need to go on the road. Is this a realistic approach for a robot? From reading other threads people seem to have cows either 24hours indoors or 24 outdoors.
I also realise that id need to cut down numbers for 1 robot to 60-65 but would there be enough extra yield from the robots to cover this? Don't think id have the acreage to be able to up numbers for 2 bots but after installing heat detection and moving to sexed semen I'm hoping the excess heifers to sell should bring in a good income too.

 

[Scholsey]

I have been reading a lot of the threads on this forum for a while now. I currently work away from the farm 40 hours a week and Dad is at home full time. Currently we have around 72-75 cows milking all year round (total cows around 90) and breed our own replacements.
Its getting to the stage where dad isn't fit for full time farming anymore and we need to start looking at the best way forward. there is a mountain of great info on here for pros and cons for robots and I think I'd like to go down the robot route as getting a relief milker round here is near impossible. I'd still like to graze the cows during the day but would need to keep them in at night as we only have 15-18 acres access to grass before we need to go on the road. Is this a realistic approach for a robot? From reading other threads people seem to have cows either 24hours indoors or 24 outdoors.
I also realise that id need to cut down numbers for 1 robot to 60-65 but would there be enough extra yield from the robots to cover this? Don't think id have the acreage to be able to up numbers for 2 bots but after installing heat detection and moving to sexed semen I'm hoping the excess heifers to sell should bring in a good income too.

I'd carry on doing what your dad is doing for a year or 2 first before spending 150k if you havent got time to milk cows you wont have time to look after robots, put heat detection system and use sexed semen and use the extra income to allow you only to work 30 hours away from the farm so can cover your dad more.

 

[dairymandave]

I'd carry on doing what your dad is doing for a year or 2 first before spending 150k if you havent got time to milk cows you wont have time to look after robots, put heat detection system and use sexed semen and use the extra income to allow you only to work 30 hours away from the farm so can cover your dad more.

150k for 1 robot? I had thought on the Delaval which I thought I could have installed for less than that. existing shed layout needs little work from what Ive been told.

 

[yin ewe]

150k for 1 robot? I had thought on the Delaval which I thought I could have installed for less than that. existing shed layout needs little work from what Ive been told.

We were told that it wouldn't cost much to get the shed ready for the robot, still took over 30k, all internal. Wouldn't go back to a parlour though.

 

[Spear]

Its surprising how costs run away. We installed an auto start generator at same time as the robots. The electrical work not including the generator cost 10k to wire up 2 robots and generator

 

[Scholsey]

150k for 1 robot? I had thought on the Delaval which I thought I could have installed for less than that. existing shed layout needs little work from what Ive been told.

a lot of the costs are the same if you have 1 robot or 2-3 robots, link up to the bulk tank, buffer tank, electric work, plumbing, computer, phone line, internet connection, decent office, centreless augers, cake bin, drainage work, extra lights, robot room floor, water softener, i know you would probably have a few of those but all those things put together could easily be 30-40k none of which included in the cost of the actual robot itself.

 

[Cowman31]

I was thinking about robots as there is really very little left in suckler farming and and i don't want to be tied down with milking twice a day

You will be more tied down with robots than a milking parlour...like I have said before, the best place for a robot is a gap in the hedge..

 

[dairymandave]

You will be more tied down with robots than a milking parlour...like I have said before, the best place for a robot is a gap in the hedge..

Are you speaking from personal experience?