Robots

[westvalley87]

'Hoping' isn't going to help if you make a cock of choosing what make to install.
I can't comment on other makes but Lely works, fullstop.

hoping was the wrong word. From what I have seen it HAS ..... and you are very true but a 40K difference in price for two robots between red and green make you sit up and take notice

 

[yin ewe]

40k not much if you're ripping them out in a years time. Apart from Lely the only makes I would consider are Fullwood and Delaval, but only if the backup was in place and good. I can only comment for NI, but to the best of my knowledge no-one can beat Lely on backup.

 

[Scholsey]

hoping was the wrong word. From what I have seen it HAS ..... and you are very true but a 40K difference in price for two robots between red and green make you sit up and take notice

40k is nothing once you realised you have spent a few hundred thousand and stuck in a world of shite you have no control over!

 

[cowcrazy]

All sold but all a bit slow here in getting the rotary up & running. Appears that there are a lot of installs going on around the country and we have to wait our turn. So much for having it spinning by end July

Someone had probably asked this before on here, but what are your reasons for taking them out?

 

[Bald Rick]

Someone had probably asked this before on here, but what are your reasons for taking them out?

1) Cow Numbers - robots are ideal for 200 cows/4 machines OR multi machines but 24 hour staff
2) All the alarms are falling on my son & I and we have too many bots (& a lot of heifers) so we get a number of calls per day & night. Even when they don't alarm, it's always at the back of your mind that they might. Doesn't make for peaceful sleep
3) Can "trickle" cows on if we wish. Robots need quantum leaps every time and that is expensive. Rotary will allow us to put on as many heifers or not as we have capacity - it would be rude not to.

BTW, we have no beef with robots. They work fine. It is just that the farm has expanded beyond robots

 

[cowcrazy]

1) Cow Numbers - robots are ideal for 200 cows/4 machines OR multi machines but 24 hour staff
2) All the alarms are falling on my son & I and we have too many bots (& a lot of heifers) so we get a number of calls per day & night. Even when they don't alarm, it's always at the back of your mind that they might. Doesn't make for peaceful sleep
3) Can "trickle" cows on if we wish. Robots need quantum leaps every time and that is expensive. Rotary will allow us to put on as many heifers or not as we have capacity - it would be rude not to.

BTW, we have no beef with robots. They work fine. It is just that the farm has expanded beyond robots

Thanks for your honest reply, I am the only one that covers our robots 24/7 and it is starting to seriously annoy me. It's not that we get many alarm calls but when we do it is usually at night. We have the chance to purchase some ground and we could then go to 4 robots but I really can't face looking after 4 single handed.

 

[Rossymons]

Thanks for your honest reply, I am the only one that covers our robots 24/7 and it is starting to seriously annoy me. It's not that we get many alarm calls but when we do it is usually at night. We have the chance to purchase some ground and we could then go to 4 robots but I really can't face looking after 4 single handed.

Get the boy doing some of it?

 

[Bald Rick]

Thanks for your honest reply, I am the only one that covers our robots 24/7 and it is starting to seriously annoy me. It's not that we get many alarm calls but when we do it is usually at night. We have the chance to purchase some ground and we could then go to 4 robots but I really can't face looking after 4 single handed.

Don't even think of 4 single handed. However if you can find someone keen & who is likely to help, then they will be fine. Key is having enough free time not to stress.
We are currently down to 8% and have 50 due to calve in the next 10 days ..... and we were promised that the rotary would be spinning by now

 

[cowcrazy]

Get the boy doing some of it?

He lives some distance from the farm so that is not possible Ross

 

[cowcrazy]

Don't even think of 4 single handed. However if you can find someone keen & who is likely to help, then they will be fine. Key is having enough free time not to stress.
We are currently down to 8% and have 50 due to calve in the next 10 days ..... and we were promised that the rotary would be spinning by now

Its impossible to find someone to cover night alarms IMO

 

[Sid]

Build spare capacity into the robots.
Milk 100 not 120.

I do not worry about alarms at night as I know they can catch up.

Know of two others going in this Autumn with same philosophy.

 

[cowcrazy]

Build spare capacity into the robots.
Milk 100 not 120.

I do not worry about alarms at night as I know they can catch up.

Know of two others going in this Autumn with same philosophy.

I think if they have that philosophy at the start robots probably are not for them.

 

[Sid]

I think if they have that philosophy at the start robots probably are not for them.

So your saying you should max out robots at full capacity and have staff on call 24/7 to attend if alarmed.

Good luck with that as I know of at least one farmer that sold his cows due to alarms at night and day with red ones as it was causing so much worry.

 

[cowcrazy]

Not exactly, you need sensible free time for it all to work. But yes you have got to have someone 24/7 to attend to alarms. One thing with a red one you have to cancel it on the CRS else it keeps ringing you. So the only would be to turn off all alarms individually so they dont ring at t a certain time. Unplug the phone line when you last check at night and remember to plug in again.Turn off your mobile at night.

We had a problem with our first robot that happened at night and it took 18 hrs to fix. Imagine if I had left that to morning or I have had a cow with milk fever go down in the box at night, bottle of calcium and cow was up and saved. If you did not respond at night you would have a dead cow in the morning.

Its how you are though, I like to try and do my best at everything I have ever done in life. How ever for welfare of cows ignoring alarms if they go off at night is not right.

 

[Sid]

Not exactly, you need sensible free time for it all to work. But yes you have got to have someone 24/7 to attend to alarms. One thing with a red one you have to cancel it on the CRS else it keeps ringing you. So the only would be to turn off all alarms individually so they dont ring at t a certain time. Unplug the phone line when you last check at night and remember to plug in again.Turn off your mobile at night.

We had a problem with our first robot that happened at night and it took 18 hrs to fix. Imagine if I had left that to morning or I have had a cow with milk fever go down in the box at night, bottle of calcium and cow was up and saved. If you did not respond at night you would have a dead cow in the morning.

Its how you are though, I like to try and do my best at everything I have ever done in life. How ever for welfare of cows ignoring alarms if they go off at night is not right.

The more free time the robots have the more free time you can have.

But you have just said you turn off phone at night? So your contradicting yourself already?

Anyway so what alarm goes off if a cow does the splits at night? Or gets stuck in a cubicle?
I came out and found one dead sideways in a cubicle one morning. How do you alarm for that for cow welfare?

 

[cowcrazy]

The more free time the robots have the more free time you can have.

But you have just said you turn off phone at night? So your contradicting yourself already?

Anyway so what alarm goes off if a cow does the splits at night? Or gets stuck in a cubicle?
I came out and found one dead sideways in a cubicle one morning. How do you alarm for that for cow welfare?

Re read my post, where do I say I TURN MY PHONE OFF??? I said you would have to if you wanted to ignore alarms at night I respond 24/7 kits the only way.

You can't have an alarm for cows in the yard. But if you came out to a dead cow that had died of milk fever in the robot and it had tried to ring you I am saying that is not right. You had the chance to save that cows life and because you wanted to sleep you choose to ignore it. I do not believe that is right

 

[Sid]

Re read my post, where do I say I TURN MY PHONE OFF??? I said you would have to if you wanted to ignore alarms at night I respond 24/7 kits the only way.

You can't have an alarm for cows in the yard. But if you came out to a dead cow that had died of milk fever in the robot and it had tried to ring you I am saying that is not right. You had the chance to save that cows life and because you wanted to sleep you choose to ignore it. I do not believe that is right

You said about unplugging phones and turning them off. I do neither of those things. That was your idea I thought that's what you did.
If that cow has milk fever the chance of her getting from the yard to the robot is minimal and bloody unlucky.

I think you have chosen a bad example for an alarm at night tbh.

 

[Sid]

Re read my post, where do I say I TURN MY PHONE OFF??? I said you would have to if you wanted to ignore alarms at night I respond 24/7 kits the only way.

You can't have an alarm for cows in the yard. But if you came out to a dead cow that had died of milk fever in the robot and it had tried to ring you I am saying that is not right. You had the chance to save that cows life and because you wanted to sleep you choose to ignore it. I do not believe that is right

So how far away do you go from the robots when on call then? A mile? 10? Or always stay close?

 

[pappuller]

just caught up on this, to me 3 is the sweetspot for a family run unit with a little outside help and 180 cows, we have looked long and hard at ways to justify putting in a 4th robot but every time the figures don't add up, as said staff and alarm calls do not generally go together v well imho. once you get above 250 cows serious consideration needs to be given to other milking methods. 1 man for every two robots is about the ideal. I would never ignore an alarm but if we are away from home and an alarm rings I don't sweat over it as the other two robots will take up the slack. the ideal is to max the robots but I think running with 20% free time gives a lot more flexibility and less issues.

 

[pappuller]

So how far away do you go from the robots when on call then? A mile? 10? Or always stay close?

Jamaica !!!