Robotic milking

[kill]

Sorry , thought you were piddle taking.
The older A2's are very cheap at less than 10k a piece but Lely are a ruthless company and are enforcing obsolescence or trying to.
With the number of A2's sold you would think that someone would crank up supplying the PCB's etc.
Most bits are makeable or fixable making the A2's a very cheap way to milk but you can't codge a PCB in the workshop.
Or at least I can't.

Some where being exported to Poland so they will soon figure out something

 

[pappuller]

What are the Lely A2 owners thinking as far as spares go in the future with particular regard to PCB's?
According to the Lely Engineers , Lely no longer are offering support to repair PCB's and haven't made new ones for some time.
I got the one under the feed trough repaired locally but I had a POS 5 card went this morning. As it happened I had one but usually they are replaced via exchange .
If the PCB's are not going to be fixed by Lely has anyone found somewhere that can fix the more complex ones such as the POS5?
Be interesting to hear what other users are thinking,maybe buy a few cheaply from abroad to break?

Davlec ?

 

[wasted years]

Davlec ?

What is Davlec please?

 

[kp_n_plghng]

@Sid Will you be doing the ABC grazing system with the robots? I don't know much about it but I like the sound of it.....

 

[Sid]

@Sid Will you be doing the ABC grazing system with the robots? I don't know much about it but I like the sound of it.....

We will yes, that is the long term goal. I think we may be the first in the UK?

 

[pappuller]

What is Davlec please?

Always used to do electronics and pcb repairs, google them to see if their still going

 

[Chips]

We will yes, that is the long term goal. I think we may be the first in the UK?

Is the delaval system different then ?

 

[kp_n_plghng]

We will yes, that is the long term goal. I think we may be the first in the UK?

Yes I haven't heard a great deal about it you may well be. Robots are a non starter for me if we can't graze but if we can then I'm going to start planning for robots. I wish you well and look forward to hearing how it goes

 

[sidjon]

Is this abc system also called the restricted water system?

 

[Chips]

Is this abc system also called the restricted water system?

Wouldn't have thought so , ours have water outside an no issue with returning to milk ,the lure of the next paddock does that along with herding instinct for the stragglers

 

[sidjon]

So not what I saw in NZ I on the greenfield project by dexel or the lely farms in nz in southland? So you won't need to have polish man chasing slow cows around all day

 

[Chips]

Hardly ever fetch cows when at grass ,just move fence twice a day . Find it easier than when housed

 

[sidjon]

Are you feed in bot? Think the NZ ones were only feeding on shoulders , so no lollies to get them back.

 

[Maxxum-man]

Hardly ever fetch cows when at grass ,just move fence twice a day . Find it easier than when housed

Can someone explain the ABC paddock system properly?

Chips, do you basically have 2 grazing paddocks on the go at one time? So when they have eaten up in one piece they have to go back to the robot to be able to get to the next paddock? how does the ABC system compare to this?

 

[kp_n_plghng]

Found this site on it http://www.thatsfarming.com/news/my-grazing-week-robotic-grazing-feature.

 

[Sid]

3*8 hour paddocks, to get to each paddock the cows have to come back to the yard and go through the diamond. This then sorts the cows with milking permission or permission to go to new block of grazing. Explaining it is hard, seeing it even looks confusing but it works!

Water troughs in each paddock. If you need to restrict the water you haven't got it set up right.

 

[Chips]

Looks much like the lely system

I only use A and B every 12hrs because I buffer feed but I think when Lely do ABC they still manage with one grazeaway gate with four exits so cows don't have to zig zag back on them selves , they then use simple cross over boxes to get cows back to the barn while crossing exit tracks , which is just a square box with one way gates in it so the cow can go straight through but never turn left or right IYSWIM

 

[Sid]

Looks much like the lely system

I only use A and B every 12hrs because I buffer feed but I think when Lely do ABC they still manage with one grazeaway gate with four exits so cows don't have to zig zag back on them selves , they then use simple cross over boxes to get cows back to the barn while crossing exit tracks , which is just a square box with one way gates in it so the cow can go straight through but never turn left or right IYSWIM

3 paddocks allow more "flow" to ensure they come through the gates to get milked. With the de laval set up a cow goes through a smart gate before getting to the robot so therefore if she has been milked recently she can go straight to grazing or can be directed to be milked if she has permission. The 8 hr Lely grazeways i saw were poorly selective , based around buffer feeding to get cow flow and not flexible enough for grazing management.

 

[nonemouse]

3 paddocks allow more "flow" to ensure they come through the gates to get milked. With the de laval set up a cow goes through a smart gate before getting to the robot so therefore if she has been milked recently she can go straight to grazing or can be directed to be milked if she has permission. The 8 hr Lely grazeways i saw were poorly selective , based around buffer feeding to get cow flow and not flexible enough for grazing management.

The lely graze way gate can do up to 4 paddocks (ABCD) if you want, been grazing with robot for 6 years ( not as longs as chips and many others I know) we did try ABC for 1 season but found it too time consuming moving 6 fences a day ( front fences and back fences) plus it wasn't giving much extra milk or visits. So back on just an AB system have water in all paddock but do know of people restricting water, not something I'm keen to try.
Buffer feed long chop grass and whole crop March/April, usually mange without buffer fed forage till grass starts to get short, depending on season usually be mid August, cows keep grazing till ground conditions get too wet normally mid november

 

[DairyGrazing]

The lely graze way gate can do up to 4 paddocks (ABCD) if you want, been grazing with robot for 6 years ( not as longs as chips and many others I know) we did try ABC for 1 season but found it too time consuming moving 6 fences a day ( front fences and back fences) plus it wasn't giving much extra milk or visits. So back on just an AB system have water in all paddock but do know of people restricting water, not something I'm keen to try.
Buffer feed long chop grass and whole crop March/April, usually mange without buffer fed forage till grass starts to get short, depending on season usually be mid August, cows keep grazing till ground conditions get too wet normally mid november

Where are you located and what cow type adonyiu milk?