Robotic milking

[jockthethistle]

Growing grain for cows gives you a little insurance against runaway prices as in 2012/13 .. If your farm is sound enough around here it's a good insurance policy .... next time I speak to my very efficient LELY neighbour I bet he tells me he's over 50 litres .. oh to be as gifted as him ... jtt

 

[ollie989898]

Growing grain for cows gives you a little insurance against runaway prices as in 2012/13 .. If your farm is sound enough around here it's a good insurance policy .... next time I speak to my very efficient LELY neighbour I bet he tells me he's over 50 litres .. oh to be as gifted as him ... jtt

It can be done. The Robot is not the lynchpin of the system though, you have to be a good dairy farmers to begin with or it just doesn't work.

 

[richy]

I was on a tour of some robot farms recently all grazing with 2-3 robots. All the farms were only robot milking with the last year so still learning . It did seem to me that there was an awful lot of work/time involved in the whole grazing side of things and made handling cows for testing,scanning vaccination udder and tail cleaning quite difficult. 1 farmer told me he couldn't get away from the farm even for a few hours without having someone there while he was away.
I think it would be much easier to keep the cow's indoors but how does that make the financial costs stack up. I milk over 200 holsteins and feel I could put up a rotary for the costs involved in converting to a robotic farm. I'm sure yields would increase with a robot but with a parlour at least you have more regular working hours.

 

[pappuller]

I was on a tour of some robot farms recently all grazing with 2-3 robots. All the farms were only robot milking with the last year so still learning . It did seem to me that there was an awful lot of work/time involved in the whole grazing side of things and made handling cows for testing,scanning vaccination udder and tail cleaning quite difficult. 1 farmer told me he couldn't get away from the farm even for a few hours without having someone there while he was away.
I think it would be much easier to keep the cow's indoors but how does that make the financial costs stack up. I milk over 200 holsteins and feel I could put up a rotary for the costs involved in converting to a robotic farm. I'm sure yields would increase with a robot but with a parlour at least you have more regular working hours.

We toyed with grazing but felt it would take up too much time and compromise keeping the diet consistent, I find it very easy managing 200 cows with a little part time help and don't think I could do this if I had to milk as well, you have to have faith in the robots else you wouldn't leave the farm, the cows are so much easier to handle on a robot system.

 

[richy]

We toyed with grazing but felt it would take up too much time and compromise keeping the diet consistent, I find it very easy managing 200 cows with a little part time help and don't think I could do this if I had to milk as well, you have to have faith in the robots else you wouldn't leave the farm, the cows are so much easier to handle on a robot system.

I could see that would be possible all right it's just that you would need to have someone reliable you would be familiar with the robots if you're away /holiday etc. Do you feel that the extra costs are covered by the greater output as I don't see how a farm with any sort of debt could afford to convert to robots unless they would go a long way to covering there cost.

 

[pappuller]

I could see that would be possible all right it's just that you would need to have someone reliable you would be familiar with the robots if you're away /holiday etc. Do you feel that the extra costs are covered by the greater output as I don't see how a farm with any sort of debt could afford to convert to robots unless they would go a long way to covering there cost.

We have a v good part time help who is good with the cows and knows the robots, we also have a very good Lely team in our area who can be called on as and when required. We try and have at least a week abroad and a few nights away through the year and days out with kids.labour saving is the major cost saved and we feel the wages saved are buying the robots, extra running costs and servicing are covered by the 15% increase in output and the benefits in fertility and cow health are a bonus, I milked on my own with a little relief help for 25 years and I feel the robots give me flexibility and leave me alot more relaxed. With regards to debt I don't see why a farm with debt wouldn't invest in robots it's all about how you manage that debt, we had a mortgage when we bought the robots and they are on a 10 yr finance package.

 

[Sid]

We toyed with grazing but felt it would take up too much time and compromise keeping the diet consistent, I find it very easy managing 200 cows with a little part time help and don't think I could do this if I had to milk as well, you have to have faith in the robots else you wouldn't leave the farm, the cows are so much easier to handle on a robot system.

I don't think you could graze 200 in one group on robots tbh.

 

[Sid]

I was on a tour of some robot farms recently all grazing with 2-3 robots. All the farms were only robot milking with the last year so still learning . It did seem to me that there was an awful lot of work/time involved in the whole grazing side of things and made handling cows for testing,scanning vaccination udder and tail cleaning quite difficult. 1 farmer told me he couldn't get away from the farm even for a few hours without having someone there while he was away.
I think it would be much easier to keep the cow's indoors but how does that make the financial costs stack up. I milk over 200 holsteins and feel I could put up a rotary for the costs involved in converting to a robotic farm. I'm sure yields would increase with a robot but with a parlour at least you have more regular working hours.

The first year is labour intensive as you feel your way through the grazing robots cow flow etc. We tweek something every week then wait for cows to settle to see if it has worked.

 

[pappuller]

I don't think you could graze 200 in one group on robots tbh.

that was our thoughts so we use loafing paddocks as a compromise.

 

[pine_guy]

Growing grain for cows gives you a little insurance against runaway prices as in 2012/13

Yes, helps with cash flow, but if grain is worth £200/ton that is what you should value it at when you are feeding it to your cows as you could sell it for that. I fatten cattle and have this problem when grain prices are high that it looks better to sell as stores and sell the grain. I do realise that you can't just sell your cows for one season when there is a blip in the grain price though, so growing some helps manage cash flow.

 

[ollie989898]

I was on a tour of some robot farms recently all grazing with 2-3 robots. All the farms were only robot milking with the last year so still learning . It did seem to me that there was an awful lot of work/time involved in the whole grazing side of things and made handling cows for testing,scanning vaccination udder and tail cleaning quite difficult. 1 farmer told me he couldn't get away from the farm even for a few hours without having someone there while he was away.
I think it would be much easier to keep the cow's indoors but how does that make the financial costs stack up. I milk over 200 holsteins and feel I could put up a rotary for the costs involved in converting to a robotic farm. I'm sure yields would increase with a robot but with a parlour at least you have more regular working hours.

I have a client and good friend exactly like you who went robot. Slapped 4 of them in under a new umbrella building.

Rotary or robot, you would make it work simply because it is you doing it. Other farmers could cock either system up. My friends still have a consistent routine and work hard but they no longer busy themselves with the sole job of harvesting milk. They spend more time managing the cows and doing the other stuff that is more important. The dry cows go out to pasture or live in the Orchard when they are 'on holiday'. Heifers are cubicle trained in the old cubicle house part of which they have converted into calving boxes/hospital.

 

[Peter]

Any members in Holland? Trying to find out if this has gotten under construction and if anybody can get some pictures of the build. Supposed to be finished end of this year. Thanks
https://floatingfarm.nl/

 

[jockthethistle]

Our farm and others in central Scotland have been floating for years ....... boom boom. jtt

 

[Scholsey]

Not sure how many this is relevant to but anyone with robots and OOPFs when do you stop cows going to the OOPFs, fullwoods default setting was 3 hours before cow is due to be milked which doesn't seem to leave much time in the day a cow can go to the feeders.

 

[happycows]

Not sure how many this is relevant to but anyone with robots and OOPFs when do you stop cows going to the OOPFs, fullwoods default setting was 3 hours before cow is due to be milked which doesn't seem to leave much time in the day a cow can go to the feeders.

1 hour. I'm getting about 7/8 feeds a day into my high yeilders

 

[pine_guy]

So just been talking to a neighbour with robots in. Walked in to the dairy this morning to discover the computer had opened the valve and emptied the bulk tank down the drain

 

[upnortheast]

computer had opened the valve and emptied the bulk tank down the drain :shock:

Difficult to work out how that would happen ?

 

[happycows]

So just been talking to a neighbour with robots in. Walked in to the dairy this morning to discover the computer had opened the valve and emptied the bulk tank down the drain :shock:

I had something similar last week that i've not had happen in nearly 10 years. robot didn't complete a successful wash due to a power cut mid wash cycle. I reset everything as normal and went home. wasn't until i went to get a jug of milk next morning i realised all the milk had been going down the drain as if it was washing the main line still. I could have cried, but i suppose i have to be thankful it was only half a day.
As they say "No point crying over spilt milk"

 

[upnortheast]

Red or Blue ?

 

[pine_guy]

Difficult to work out how that would happen ?

I had something similar last week that i've not had happen in nearly 10 years. robot didn't complete a successful wash due to a power cut mid wash cycle. I reset everything as normal and went home. wasn't until i went to get a jug of milk next morning i realised all the milk had been going down the drain as if it was washing the main line still. I could have cried, but i suppose i have to be thankful it was only half a day.
As they say "No point crying over spilt milk"

Red or Blue ?

Said it was as if the button the tanker driver pushes had been pushed (I don't have robots)!? Blue, Delaval. Went in end off last/start of this year but where secondhand. Think they had been in two other places prior. He was lucky like you @happycows, tanker had been in the night before, no collection today, so tomorrow morning would have been rather grim. Asked who would cover the loss, but he didn't;t know yet.