Robotic milking

[pappuller]

hoping for about 10th march here, fert spread, slurry injected, fences up at the weekend, easy so far

 

[Claas Andy]

We are seriously considering putting in 3 robots but our biggest concern is whether you could leave the farm unattended for 4 or 5 hours through the day if you have no one to deal with them if there is a problem? So we just wondered how you guys on here with robots deal with this?

 

[jockthethistle]

Deal with it when u get back. jtt

 

[Sid]

We are seriously considering putting in 3 robots but our biggest concern is whether you could leave the farm unattended for 4 or 5 hours through the day if you have no one to deal with them if there is a problem? So we just wondered how you guys on here with robots deal with this?

I know people with milking parlours that can't get away for 4 hours!
Admittedly i have loads of spare capacity atm and will have when fully up and running. But i have had no alarms this for 5 days that needed me to drive the 10 mins to the other farm. Even if i did i will have enough capacity to shut one down for 18 hrs I'd say and catch up again. Catching up is the key part.

 

[upnortheast]

3 robots,so if one is down you still have 2 milking. That wont be a problem Would be very rare to have a fault that stopped the lot

 

[happycows]

We are seriously considering putting in 3 robots but our biggest concern is whether you could leave the farm unattended for 4 or 5 hours through the day if you have no one to deal with them if there is a problem? So we just wondered how you guys on here with robots deal with this?

For me here on my own with 1 robot uptill now it's been a element of luck. most of the time it's fine but sometimes as frustrating as it is....... you just have to jump in the car or turn around and go home. Power cut, even just a flicker is the biggest pain and not uncommon and this would knock out all the robots.

Funniest one (Now in hindsight) for me was a family day out to Lundy Island last July. left on the boat from Bideford at 8.30am, so early start to get everything done. 4 miles out to sea off Hartland point i thought i'll just check the computer on the robot on teamviewer before i lose reception............ No alarm had rang but nothing had been milked since a heifer i was training had been in at 7am. I'd left the bloody gate shut and scarpered to have a shower and get changed.. luckily a friend popped up to open the gate and all was fine and we had a lovely day out and evening meal when we got back.

Most random thing was Rob Waterfield the Fullwood sales man who i bought the robot from in 2008 is now working on Lundy Island as a manager for the Landmark trust. Can't help but wonder if i helped drive him to take up residence on a remote inaccessible island in the Bristol channel!!

 

[pappuller]

We'll happily go out for the day, 3 robots 150 cows in milk if one shuts down its no drama,only had 1 night call so far this year. At least if a problem occurs whilst ur out you do know about it, its a leap of faith with robots but you have to be right for robots even if you think robots are right for you!!!

 

[DocPhil001]

night calls are becoming less now the cows are getting better trained. I have plenty of spare capacity at the moment. the robots are quite old I am using so can be a bit temperamental some times. Power cut last night messed things up a bit.

 

[upnortheast]

Power cut last night messed things up a bit.

They don`t like power cuts, even 2 seconds can need total restart

 

[pappuller]

They don`t like power cuts, even 2 seconds can need total restart

And you cant blame the robots if the leccy goes off

 

[Chips]

trying to milk pretty straight forward uddered cow tonight after she calved early before really bagging up and after about 4 minutes of attempts to attach teat cups it suddenly stopped scanning and just sat in a perfect milking position under the cow with the pulsator running , I went to the x link presuming to find the arrow screen , but no just the milking screen , so I pressed reconnect teat cups , guided the arm in and had another go , after 3 or 4 attempts it did the same , just sitting there following the cow as she moved with the pulsator on ,but the cups not attached , so I switched off the air and manually attached , simples , cow milked out , and is now safe to leave over night for another attempt tomorrow , if this has been deliberately written into the software then well done Lely

 

[AWJ26]

Replaced the laser on one of our A4 robots recently, pleasantly surprised to learn the cost of a refurbished laser was £650 which includes a £300 surcharge. Invoice came today for £350. Can't complain at that. [emoji16]

 

[Col555]

They don`t like power cuts, even 2 seconds can need total restart

So what's the procedure following a power cut? Just flick the switch back on and away it goes? Does it take long to power up? Are some brands better/quicker/easier at restarting than others? I'm on the end of a single phase line , but could get a second line installed that would give a 50kw capacity. But we can get a few power cuts, so it's certainly something for me to consider if we go down the robot route in the near future.

 

[AWJ26]

Takes best part of 10 minutes to do a full restart and calibrate the arms with 2 lely A4's. If your UPS batteries are in good shape, they will cope with more than a minute of the power being down, and will carry on when power is resumed. Most annoying part of a power cut is losing the milk in the jar when you restart them.

 

[wasted years]

trying to milk pretty straight forward uddered cow tonight after she calved early before really bagging up and after about 4 minutes of attempts to attach teat cups it suddenly stopped scanning and just sat in a perfect milking position under the cow with the pulsator running , I went to the x link presuming to find the arrow screen , but no just the milking screen , so I pressed reconnect teat cups , guided the arm in and had another go , after 3 or 4 attempts it did the same , just sitting there following the cow as she moved with the pulsator on ,but the cups not attached , so I switched off the air and manually attached , simples , cow milked out , and is now safe to leave over night for another attempt tomorrow , if this has been deliberately written into the software then well done Lely

I would assume you are on A4's but my A2 can do something similar and I think it is either the S-lina ram not quite at the right height or a sign that the main PCB is starting to fail.
Mine will sit for a second then go again.

 

[Chips]

I would assume you are on A4's but my A2 can do something similar and I think it is either the S-lina ram not quite at the right height or a sign that the main PCB is starting to fail.
Mine will sit for a second then go again.

A3 , used to be able to do this but then software changed to stop pulsation , now it stays on and so you can manuall milk . The fact it would only stay on after the robot had tried so many times itself is what made me think it could be deliberate to allow you to get the cow milked after the robot fails to do so . Hope it's not just a sign my PCB is giving up

 

[happycows]

trying to milk pretty straight forward uddered cow tonight after she calved early before really bagging up and after about 4 minutes of attempts to attach teat cups it suddenly stopped scanning and just sat in a perfect milking position under the cow with the pulsator running , I went to the x link presuming to find the arrow screen , but no just the milking screen , so I pressed reconnect teat cups , guided the arm in and had another go , after 3 or 4 attempts it did the same , just sitting there following the cow as she moved with the pulsator on ,but the cups not attached , so I switched off the air and manually attached , simples , cow milked out , and is now safe to leave over night for another attempt tomorrow , if this has been deliberately written into the software then well done Lely

I had a idea, for a different reason.....if i get a fresh calved heifer and she only does 3/4 litres the first milking or two i seem to lose it all in the lines, milk pump and end up with a cupful of colostrum..
i was thinking a dump bucket,cluster and pulsator. Mines got a vacuum tap on. Would that be one way to solve your problems??

 

[Chips]

Yes it is annoying how much colostrum you lose . Dump bucket could work I guess but a bit of a fiddle compared to how the above worked , just hope it keeps working when needed

 

[Scholsey]

Takes best part of 10 minutes to do a full restart and calibrate the arms with 2 lely A4's. If your UPS batteries are in good shape, they will cope with more than a minute of the power being down, and will carry on when power is resumed. Most annoying part of a power cut is losing the milk in the jar when you restart them.

Had a 'power blip' yesterday with 3 m2s I was 25 mins away in hospital with new born child managed to talk sister and crocked father through via phone a whole system restart in 15 mins,3 robots 2 vacuum pump inverters and 2 compressors, a blip seems to cause more problems than a proper power cut. Bloody power cuts.

 

[skylane]

Is anyone that is using robots have a system in place where by out grazing during the day and in at night being fed zero grazed grass?
If so does it work well?

Also did those that changed from conventional to robot see a big increase in concentrates fed and if so what was the approx corresponding %increase in yield. Currently feeding approx 1.25t/cow

Thanks