Robotic milking

[Spear]

Getting your robots serviced will be the biggest problem if there’s a mad rush because of grants. Dealers can’t get and keep enough engineers to maintain what they have without a massive increase in numbers

 

[YELROM]

Yes but you paid full price most at the moment will be aiming for a govt 40%discount

Which grant scheme covers robots

 

[frederick]

Which grant scheme covers robots

Farm pruductivity

 

[yin ewe]

I remember @yin ewe writing on here about his grazing system if I rember right?

We graze during the day and housed at night, cows always can come back into the robot at any time, don't have enough ground around the yard to graze 24hrs so it's a bit of a compromise.

 

[Cxman]

We graze during the day and housed at night, cows always can come back into the robot at any time, don't have enough ground around the yard to graze 24hrs so it's a bit of a compromise.

Do u split graze during daytime? As in AB grazing and use d house as C paddock?

 

[nonemouse]

We graze 24hrs a day working on an AB system, ( did try ABC for one season but it just seemed to over complicate it for us), but several people get on well with it. Been running this system for 11 years, happy to answer questions about it, but a lot of it will have been covered by others earlier in this thread.

 

[Cxman]

We graze 24hrs a day working on an AB system, ( did try ABC for one season but it just seemed to over complicate it for us), but several people get on well with it. Been running this system for 11 years, happy to answer questions about it, but a lot of it will have been covered by others earlier in this thread.

What way do u do AB grazing 12hours each paddock?

 

[yin ewe]

Do u split graze during daytime? As in AB grazing and use d house as C paddock?

No just 1 paddock during the day, we use the separation gate at the front of the robot to put cows to the field from 5am, all cows must go through robot to get out. Come back in through a one way gate so if they want back out they must go through robot again. Separation gate set to keep all cows in from 5pm. I go out later, bring in cows that are still in the field and change fence for next day.
Sounds more complicated than it is in reality and it works fine for us.

 

[dannewhouse]

How many acres per cow grazing are each of you running,
The. 24/7 ABC grazing Vs 12 HR ab grazing?

(The total block obviously offer them a smaller amount each grazing)

 

[yin ewe]

Roughly 4 cows/ acre here at the start of the season and reducing to 2.75 from late July as we dry off cows.

 

[jondear]

View attachment 1003965
My biggest source of alarms, straw in front of the camera.

That looks a bit dirty!

 

[Cxman]

No just 1 paddock during the day, we use the separation gate at the front of the robot to put cows to the field from 5am, all cows must go through robot to get out. Come back in through a one way gate so if they want back out they must go through robot again. Separation gate set to keep all cows in from 5pm. I go out later, bring in cows that are still in the field and change fence for next day.
Sounds more complicated than it is in reality and it works fine for us.

That sounds like it would work here. Where i would like to put a robot there is access to 2 existing farm roadways. Any problems with cows coming in to d robot from grazing? Iv heard of people that do a 'controlled starvation' type system that when grass is getting tight they know to move to paddock B or C next as theres fresh pickings

 

[yin ewe]

That sounds like it would work here. Where i would like to put a robot there is access to 2 existing farm roadways. Any problems with cows coming in to d robot from grazing? Iv heard of people that do a 'controlled starvation' type system that when grass is getting tight they know to move to paddock B or C next as theres fresh pickings

Fresher calved cows will come back throughout the day no problem, staler ones get milked in the morning and tend not to come back until the evening. Milkings drop to about 2.5/day and maybe a bit lower in the farther away fields.

 

[Cxman]

Fresher calved cows will come back throughout the day no problem, staler ones get milked in the morning and tend not to come back until the evening. Milkings drop to about 2.5/day and maybe a bit lower in the farther away fields.

Ideally cows would want to be pretty close to d robot of possible so. Iv only been around 1 grazing setup for robots. Some guys tend to go indoor but i wouldnt be a fan of that setup

 

[dannewhouse]

Anyone running an ABC setup where c is housing?

Anyone got a shed split where feed is put out in the opposite side to try and use it as an ab system?

 

[Cxman]

Anyone running an ABC setup where c is housing?

Anyone got a shed split where feed is put out in the opposite side to try and use it as an ab system?

Tom pemberton did a video on it. Hopefully link works

 

[awkward]

Lely center Mullingar has a series of youtube videos showing different possibilities,

 

[Chips]

I run an AB system with a full time buffer feed in the shed and so in effect it is like an ABCD as there is always an incentive for cows to come back inbetween each new grazing allocation . My A area is a poorer part of the farm than my B and so I never bother any more with putting a fence up in A as they will always been drawn back by the lure of getting to B . This results in only having to move a fence in the mornings as B is 12pm to 12am leaving afternoon routine as little as possible as usually I am squeezing it in while doing field work !
System works well in that it reduces work load over full time housing , makes less crowded in the shed which helps new heifers start volunteering to milk and obviously saves on silage requirements compared to full time housing although by not as much as a non buffer system would. The one downside is that the edge of hunger is no where near as much as non buffered cows and thus they are fussy at cleaning up paddocks . This used to result in a lot of topping and thus waste but as the fences and water supply gets better I am able to utilize this by following the milkers with the dry cows from mid season onwards.
On this system we rarely have to fetch any cows back from the paddocks until we get late into the season with long dark nights . Usually graze from mid March to mid November and can never wait to get the cows back out

 

[Jdunn55]

I run an AB system with a full time buffer feed in the shed and so in effect it is like an ABCD as there is always an incentive for cows to come back inbetween each new grazing allocation . My A area is a poorer part of the farm than my B and so I never bother any more with putting a fence up in A as they will always been drawn back by the lure of getting to B . This results in only having to move a fence in the mornings as B is 12pm to 12am leaving afternoon routine as little as possible as usually I am squeezing it in while doing field work !
System works well in that it reduces work load over full time housing , makes less crowded in the shed which helps new heifers start volunteering to milk and obviously saves on silage requirements compared to full time housing although by not as much as a non buffer system would. The one downside is that the edge of hunger is no where near as much as non buffered cows and thus they are fussy at cleaning up paddocks . This used to result in a lot of topping and thus waste but as the fences and water supply gets better I am able to utilize this by following the milkers with the dry cows from mid season onwards.
On this system we rarely have to fetch any cows back from the paddocks until we get late into the season with long dark nights . Usually graze from mid March to mid November and can never wait to get the cows back out

Can we see some photos please

 

[Jdunn55]

Can we see some photos please

And anyone else please