Robotic milking

robot Jerseys

Member
Location
shropshire
We installed a merlin m2 a little over a year ago, have had no problems with milking, it has attached to tall and short cows and all udder types. we have less alarms than other robots I know of in the area. The touch screen interface is very good. It is very quiet when operating, and the arm is well designed and tidy.
The service has been good it is useful that the engineers can log in remotely and do a system analysis of the robot, often able to resolve issues without having to visit the farm. The service has been very good for the few urgent breakdowns but less so for routine maintenance.
I would say Fullwood are let down by the computer software that comes with the robot. It is all text based and not very intuitive to use or find information . The MerlinView softare advertised on the website looks unfinished, some of it is still in dutch and the option to email alarms doesn't work.
The grazing gates are not well integrated into the system, they need a controller from a heating system to shut off the power for 10 mins 3 times a day while the software changes from paddock A to B to C. during this shut down I sometimes have cows pushing through the gates and ending up in the wrong paddock. The option exists in software to choose to send an individual cow to a different destination to rest of the herd but the gates cant handle this.

Not sure why your gate has to shut sown for 10 mins ours can send 3 cows different ways one after another!
 

New Merlin

New Member
Not sure why your gate has to shut sown for 10 mins ours can send 3 cows different ways one after another!
I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from the service engineer, but the last explanation I got was that the crystal software works in 10 min segments and that one has end before another can begin.
upload_2017-7-18_22-31-47.png


The individual destinations for cows I have the ability to select destinations
upload_2017-7-18_22-35-46.png
but the only one that works is separation room because that is done by using the front exit of the robot. If I select a different paddock the gates use the real time destination which is where the herd is going at that time.

What robot are you running?
 

robot Jerseys

Member
Location
shropshire
I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from the service engineer, but the last explanation I got was that the crystal software works in 10 min segments and that one has end before another can begin. View attachment 552004

The individual destinations for cows I have the ability to select destinations
View attachment 552006 but the only one that works is separation room because that is done by using the front exit of the robot. If I select a different paddock the gates use the real time destination which is where the herd is going at that time.

What robot are you running?

Got a 225 our grazing gate only have a b and reject but can send cows either way.
 

clem dog

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
All done. Bit stressful but we got there.
I've advertised it but no interest. I value mine at being worth at least 12k in spares to me although if you had to buy all the components you'd be looking nearer £40k. 90% of the parts are interchangeable including many expensive parts like lasers and ucc's.
Was this your reason for changing to two 225 merlins instead of merlin2? Or was it a cost thing?
 
Was this your reason for changing to two 225 merlins instead of merlin2? Or was it a cost thing?

Just a different league of money, like less than a 1/4 of 2 new M2's or A4's even with some new parts, labour and refurbishment.They were very near by and i knew the history as i helped on their first night.

Came with 3 oopf's, a 250 l buffer tank, plate cooler. 100+ pedometers ect. all handy to have as spares. They've got Crystalab milk analysis on too.

They had not milked a cow for a good few years and are far more tight on the wear points and just generally not milked that many cows.
I've removed and re-fitted these 2 on about £500 of Fullwood labour as i know them inside out but i have spent a lot of my own time doing it.
No way would i have spent new money of any make of robot to milk cows.
I know with these that if the price of milk nosedives i can still sleep easy at night and i have all those spares ready and waiting should i need them. Just seemed like a oppertunity too good to turn down,
 
This is my old one that i took out last week. completely stripped it down yesterday. frightening how little there is to it really. Just about to start cleaning and packaging/labelling everything to store on a new shelving rack in the compressor room. Will be nice to have a full set of parts to hand although i suspect much might never get used.
 

Tullyvernon

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Ulster
This is my old one that i took out last week. completely stripped it down yesterday. frightening how little there is to it really. Just about to start cleaning and packaging/labelling everything to store on a new shelving rack in the compressor room. Will be nice to have a full set of parts to hand although i suspect much might never get used.
Should save you a good bit down the line. What have you put in now (sorry if this has been covered, haven't been on the forum in ages)
 

mawleymoos

Member
Location
Shropshire
I bought 2 merlin 225's that had done very little work. Well worth their money. Swapped from 1 to 2 fresh ones monday last week.
Just wondering if you are interested in selling off the laser carrier part of the mothership ? That is, if the arm is different to the 225 and surplus to requirements! I need to refurbish mine! But wld be nice , not to be time pushed!
 

AlexBY

Member
Dear colleagues, please tell me, do your Lely responders work in the infrared range? Is the receiving device in the robot the same as in the picture?
image-0-02-05-336675463f4bdd12fc74785284ae97c4c52dee6d26848943ceaf8f333f975cc9-V.jpg
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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