Scraping out… Robotics, automatic scrapers or tractors?

[Chimera]

Dairymaster hydraulic been in here 4 years. 4 passages. Just on the verge of ripping them out. Brilliant when they're working. But f***k up your day when they're not. A lot of it is really down to pee poor fitting initially. Wires ripped out, burst pipes, switch failures etc. We run a few too many cows in the cubicles, and they do a good job of keeping everything clean

 

[Jamer]

The cleanest cows here are tractor scraped twice a day. They are on sand and most importantly, there’s a fall on the floor. The older shed is sawdust/lime/mattresses and has had a hydraulic system removed after 15 years of relatively trouble free use. We tractor scraped it for a year after a refit to widen passages and for the whole time we’ve had dirty grimy cows in there. The automatics pushed a bow wave up - some cows get out of the way, some just stand there. Now we’ve installed a poover. Cows are significantly cleaner and probably because it’s a simple run, the robot runs pretty trouble free. The critical difference for us though is the poover shed is on “flat” floors which sadly as put in 40 years ago suffer ponding from a lack of fall. This makes it bloody difficult to keep cows clean - my advice; if you’re doing a new shed make sure there’s a fall, even 1/2% will make all the difference.

 

[Grassman247]

Had chain scrapers here for 25 years,spent more time dealing with the slurry sat on the slats than it did to scrape with a tractor,so never replaced them,if I had my time again I’d have a slatted channel full length of each passageway just in the centre so whatever method of scraping you use you wouldn’t get a wave of slurry.

I was originally going to do that, biggest problem is all the liquid goes down and leaves all the dry muck in the passage, instead we put a slat across the middle and then an open channel at the end to catch everything, wide enough to take the muck, narrow enough to drive over

 

[Blue.]

I was originally going to do that, biggest problem is all the liquid goes down and leaves all the dry muck in the passage, instead we put a slat across the middle and then an open channel at the end to catch everything, wide enough to take the muck, narrow enough to drive over

Farm I used to milk at had one 26’ wide passage with slats full length up the centre,it never got a build up because it always worked its way to the centre,possibly because they ran the scrapers often,I don’t know but it was the best on the farm.

A letter box is great if you can do it,seen lots in the Us where they just gate it either side.

 

[Wesley]

if I had my time again I’d have a slatted channel full length of each passageway just in the centre so whatever method of scraping you use you wouldn’t get a wave of slurry.

You can get a rope scraper with a v shaped blade that would work well with that. Added advantage is if you need to drive in the shed you can just pull the wings towards the centre of the passage.

 

[ollie989898]

You can get a rope scraper with a v shaped blade that would work well with that. Added advantage is if you need to drive in the shed you can just pull the wings towards the centre of the passage. View attachment 1173658

My buddy has that in the centre passage, drive mixer wagon in and out no sweat then run scraper as normal to clear it when you don't need to drive up and down. Other passages scraped by regular rope scraper.

 

[FWH SM 23]

I've installed a few of these delta type folding scrapers. Rope ones are not as successful as chain driven type. The Only way I would do rope scraper using these blades, if the farmer was willing to cut a groove all the way down the middle so that the drawbar stayed nice and straight all the way down. So that the scraper blade doesn't crab and twist.

 

[ollie989898]

The trouble with chains is that you end up with the drive mechanisms involving sprockets and all sorts and they inevitably encounter muck- never a good combination for anything mechanical or something which might encounter foreign bodies from anything dropped on the floor.

Rope scrapers are driven by winches which wind the rope around a spool so they are never directly in contact with the slurry and situated way up out of the way so no chance to be hit or attract the attentions of a cow. I'd argue a rope also has some give and so is kinder on the cows feet/legs but that's a more minor consideration.

Changing or mending a rope is also a lot easier than fixing a chain and they aren't even daft money to have stored away on a drum in case of a failure. You could change all the ropes at the start of every winter and it wouldn't be daft expensive to do.

My buddy has a cow care (going from memory) rope system that has been in place 15+ years, other than changing the ropes not much else has been done. Electric motors are intrinsically more reliable than engines or hydraulics and far cheaper to run.

 

[FWH SM 23]

The trouble with chains is that you end up with the drive mechanisms involving sprockets and all sorts and they inevitably encounter muck- never a good combination for anything mechanical or something which might encounter foreign bodies from anything dropped on the floor.

Rope scrapers are driven by winches which wind the rope around a spool so they are never directly in contact with the slurry and situated way up out of the way so no chance to be hit or attract the attentions of a cow. I'd argue a rope also has some give and so is kinder on the cows feet/legs but that's a more minor consideration.

Changing or mending a rope is also a lot easier than fixing a chain and they aren't even daft money to have stored away on a drum in case of a failure. You could change all the ropes at the start of every winter and it wouldn't be daft expensive to do.

My buddy has a cow care (going from memory) rope system that has been in place 15+ years, other than changing the ropes not much else has been done. Electric motors are intrinsically more reliable than engines or hydraulics and far cheaper to run.

I've been fitting scraper systems for over 16 years. And seen my fair share of failures and success, I'm also well switch on how chains are driven what motors they run. What grade of steel chains are made from, tensile strengths and carbon grades and cast grades they use. Pin diameter sprocket thickness, shaft diameter 3 tier 4 teir eurodrive gearboxes that's used. Plc programme pcb circuit boards. I've never known a more robust system on the market than a chain system, chain system amps does not fluctuate as much as rope system on 0.75kw motor as chain scraper motor 0.37kw. Chain scraper motor last far longer than a rope scraper motor it's what I've seen. If I was to install a delta type folding blade I would rather do it with chain for stability as chains run on magnet sensor and have inbuilt cmr which protects the plc and faster response on cow down than pcb will ever notice. Some rope winches are in contact with slurry I'm afraid to say as most of them are situated on the ground in contact with their own slurry that drips off of the rope. You won't get as long out a rope as you would with a chain or a hydraulic system for that matter as I looked after systems that's older than me. On the cheap side ropes are far quicker than chains and hydraulic systems. I've seen my fair share of ropes. But more advanced rope systems on the market are reduced to compensate the increase in diameter on the rope spools. Thinner ropes decreases the speed. These are the systems I've installed in 15 years or so.

 

[ollie989898]

I've been fitting scraper systems for over 16 years. And seen my fair share of failures and success, I'm also well switch on how chains are driven what motors they run. What grade of steel chains are made from, tensile strengths and carbon grades and cast grades they use. Pin diameter sprocket thickness, shaft diameter 3 tier 4 teir eurodrive gearboxes that's used. Plc programme pcb circuit boards. I've never known a more robust system on the market than a chain system, chain system amps does not fluctuate as much as rope system on 0.75kw motor as chain scraper motor 0.37kw. Chain scraper motor last far longer than a rope scraper motor it's what I've seen. If I was to install a delta type folding blade I would rather do it with chain for stability as chains run on magnet sensor and have inbuilt cmr which protects the plc and faster response on cow down than pcb will ever notice. Some rope winches are in contact with slurry I'm afraid to say as most of them are situated on the ground in contact with their own slurry that drips off of the rope. You won't get as long out a rope as you would with a chain or a hydraulic system for that matter as I looked after systems that's older than me. On the cheap side ropes are far quicker than chains and hydraulic systems. I've seen my fair share of ropes. But more advanced rope systems on the market are reduced to compensate the increase in diameter on the rope spools. Thinner ropes decreases the speed. These are the systems I've installed in 15 years or so. View attachment 1173694

Cripes, mounting stuff on the ground is a recipe for disaster- better to mount them up high away from prying cows and the muck. My friend has his mounted on the side of the shed and the motor is never exposed to dung. The controller and gizmos are inside the shed and so out of the weather in their cabinet also. I found them a really good and easy system to use. I had customers with chain systems and they all said they would never go back to tractor scraping so I can see they have merit, they just seem more complex to me.

 

[Ducati899]

Storth hydraulic scrapers here which I think are just doing their 8th or 9th winter.can’t really fault them,replaced the wings last week for the first time and on the odd occasion they play up it always seems to be something fairly simple and a 5 minute fix,the key I find is keeping it clean inside the ratchet mechanism and not letting dung dry and build up in it and also around the ram unit.
they run every 2 hours and they don’t seem to cause any digi problems here

 

[FWH SM 23]

Cripes, mounting stuff on the ground is a recipe for disaster- better to mount them up high away from prying cows and the muck. My friend has his mounted on the side of the shed and the motor is never exposed to dung. The controller and gizmos are inside the shed and so out of the weather in their cabinet also. I found them a really good and easy system to use. I had customers with chain systems and they all said they would never go back to tractor scraping so I can see they have merit, they just seem more complex to me.

I would say most of my repairs are ground mounted ones in all honesty especially with rope scrapers. With ropes coming off the spools and getting dammed between the bearing or gearbox. But there's reasons for it, not enough resistance in the gearboxes. A tighter gearbox reduces kick back, and the thicker rope is just an elastic band when it's under load then release load also dangerous with a lame cow that steps on the blade for a few seconds then moves out the way. I found the likes of the storth ropes, pollock ropes and dairypower ropes all use dynema ropes ranging between 10 - 13mm ropes and higher teir gearboxes which keeps the system nice and tight in effect reduces elasticated effect. Dynema rope doesn't stretch the same as like your Polyester ropes. But the polyester rope keeps its shape far better then dynema as it goes flat. And I'm not a fan of bolting winches on the wall. I would rather manufacture a stand and keep them off the wall. Seen a few panels in my time crack with downward stress.

 

[FWH SM 23]

Storth hydraulic scrapers here which I think are just doing their 8th or 9th winter.can’t really fault them,replaced the wings last week for the first time and on the odd occasion they play up it always seems to be something fairly simple and a 5 minute fix,the key I find is keeping it clean inside the ratchet mechanism and not letting dung dry and build up in it and also around the ram unit.
they run every 2 hours and they don’t seem to cause any digi problems here

Nothing wrong with the storth hydraulics. I maintain a few of them up and down the country, only thing I will say the panel can be less complicated but there double pump unit is decent. And 15 plus years out the tracks in the environment there in is good also. Power hungry that's another issue 2.2kw motors and running 4 lanes 200ft which is normally 20-25 minutes down and up or up and down x that by four is alot of power compares to what ropes run at.

 

[Cowski]

Nothing wrong with the storth hydraulics. I maintain a few of them up and down the country, only thing I will say the panel can be less complicated but there double pump unit is decent. And 15 plus years out the tracks in the environment there in is good also. Power hungry that's another issue 2.2kw motors and running 4 lanes 200ft which is normally 20-25 minutes down and up or up and down x that by four is alot of power compares to what ropes run at.

Have you dealt with any GEA systems? Looking to install a system on a long run and I see some American farms doing over 400ft with a single run, that’s on rope but apparently chain is better on these long runs

 

[FWH SM 23]

Have you dealt with any GEA systems? Looking to install a system on a long run and I see some American farms doing over 400ft with a single run, that’s on rope but apparently chain is better on these long runs

I have. They have a really big drive unit. I swear I've seen smaller bulk tanks. They work with a stainless steel cable and really big corner pulleys. I'm afraid I'm a fan of stainless steel cable I've seen to many cows legs cut open under the tension of it. I recently installed a system there 450ft long 15ft passage widths, using a dairypower rope system didn't use there double winch unit I used two single drives. Out of all.the systems I look after and fitted in my time dairypower winch units are heavy compact drives. Second option would be pollock there chain systems are good.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

Does anyone run a little Kubota or Kioti hydrostatic as a scraper tractor?

I'm looking for something reliable that milking guys and girls rather than tractor types can use.

 

[vantage]

Does anyone run a little Kubota or Kioti hydrostatic as a scraper tractor?

I'm looking for something reliable that milking guys and girls rather than tractor types can use. View attachment 1174839

@Boysground ?

 

[vantage]

Does anyone run a little Kubota or Kioti hydrostatic as a scraper tractor?

I'm looking for something reliable that milking guys and girls rather than tractor types can use. View attachment 1174839

Tidy little tractor, was one for sale at a dealer recently , ex demo £22k+

 

[vantage]

2022 Kubota L2452 Tractor - Parnham Tractors Ltd, Stoke on Trent, Used Tractors, New Tractors

2022 2 Hours Full Spec Turf tyres Road Registered Q Cab 2 Double acting spool valves Draw bar 2 Speed PTO 16/16 forward reverse Air Con and Air Seat Loader ready

www.parnhamtractors.co.uk

Bit more than I thought @Cows 'n grass .

 

[Milkcow365]

Does anyone run a little Kubota or Kioti hydrostatic as a scraper tractor?

I'm looking for something reliable that milking guys and girls rather than tractor types can use. View attachment 1174839

I’ve a kioti, smaller than that , £14k 3 year warranty just chop it in every 3 years. Got £6k for last trade in. Cheap scraping