Very interesting. Never run a robot, but milked 400 through a 40 Delaval rotary 1997-2016 when i retired. Our local Delaval dealer told me several years ago the way to maximize a robot was to have higher producing cows ,Robot could handle a million litres a year, You can do the math's to change to pounds or whatever. Thanks. Enjoy your videos.
We milked in a tie stall barn until 2009 when we built the free stall barn we are in now. We had a double 8 parabone parlor where the holding pen and office are we milked about 85 cow in the parlor we we able to use the parlor while construction of the robot was being done about a month into the robot we ripped out the parlor and made it into the holding pen and office that it is today
Being able to feed half the pellets on guided was the main reason also knowing a cow couldn't circle the robot all day was another big reason. The flow in the barn seems to be good most of the herd takes care of themselves there are a few that when cleaning stalls you have to make sure get into the holding pen but most of those cows aren't pregnant and just waiting for someone to replace them and delaval designed the system they came out and looked at the barn and came up with what they felt would work the best and I questioned them the whole way through the process so I understood and felt that it was the best way because at the end of the day I get to live with what got done they don't but I am extremely with how it's been working so far. So here's a little advice to anyone looking at a robot make sure you believe in the plan there selling I don't care what color it is just remember your the one that has to execute the plan and if you don't believe what are the odds it will be successful
@@weyerdairy7881 Thanks for those thoughts and advice. I look forward to more videos and would be interested in following cows around the flow in the barn. I really appreciate the time you take to make these videos, as a dairy farmer from Australia I know how little spare time there is. We are all grazing with grain while they are milked, each cow gets fed 4 to 12 kg per grain depending on milk production while they are been milked and then back out to pasture. I can not understand why pellets when you could feed an on farm grain mix a lot cheaper augered in instead of pelletts. We reduce dust with canola oil in the mix.
We milked 86 head 2 times a day 2 1/2 hours each time , not seeing how you would spend 45 minutes a day on a cow, but we were free stall 6 units, barn 245’ long ,old style barn silos on end, other end was gutter cleaning system, bull pen and maternity pen, lean 2 wer for different ages of calves,to yearling
Could the robot milk more than 80 cows in a full feed first or milk first system? In your opinion now, what would be its maximum capacity in either cow numbers, milk harvested per day, or number of milkings per day? Thank you for a great video.
I feel 85 cows will be max. I don't think the feed first or milk first system will gain you more cows it might save you a fetch cow or 2. We are putting a little over 6000 lbs a day through the robot I was told from delaval there are very few people getting around 7000 lbs and there normally in barns with multiple robots cause they cherry pick cows on 1 robot group to get it. My high for milkings in a day was 217 I did that once so far. Now since the video I did talk with delaval and they recommend that when looking at a robot you should plan on 5000 lbs per robot because that is what the robots are averaging over all clearly they can do more but financially you shouldn't bank on that cause if your not building a new barn cow flow can be affected and what I was told by that is barns with narrow alleys slow down cow flow
@@weyerdairy7881 Man, Please... You have 2,47 avg milkings. In that case You are able to milk 120 cows on one robot... If U had 3 milkings on average with 80 cow I would congratulate to You. Please, show number of Your cows when You achive 3 or more milkings on average per day. Wish You all the best.
I don't think so but I feel it allows you the ability to have a lower yield successfully because your input costs are lower cause in guided the robot and the bunk are driving the cows so you are able to feed a higher energy diet in the bunk giving you the ability to feed less pellets through the robot we personally are at 6lbs of pellets in the robot where in free flow our nutritionist told us we would need 11 1/2lbs of pellets and right now at 340 a ton for pellets that cost adds up fast
You get some notifications daily I would say once a month you get a call where you have to go out to the robot and thats normally due to a cow kicked the arm so hard that it needs to be recalibrated or the cup sucked up something and the meter got plugged so it has no vacuum on one quarter as far as a robot breakdown I would say once every 3 to 4 months and normally it's something stupid like a sencer getting out of whack that I am able to fix myself
I feel really sorry for that timid Heifer thats gets into that crowded fetch Pen... She will spend hours until she finds a slot to get into that robot... We milk up to 6500kg Sold milk with 3 ams in free Flow - its possible!
Very interesting. Never run a robot, but milked 400 through a 40 Delaval rotary 1997-2016 when i retired. Our local Delaval dealer told me several years ago the way to maximize a robot was to have higher producing cows ,Robot could handle a million litres a year, You can do the math's to change to pounds or whatever. Thanks. Enjoy your videos.
Thanks for the video! It's really cool to see so inspired milkman! And there is a question: why did you choose the VMS? What are main advantages?
It seemed like a better choice then hiring a milker with the robot you can be more flexible with doing chores and it doesn't effect the cows
Did you in milk
a tiestall before? How many? Is the robot barn a new barn or a remodel?GREAT VIDEO!
We milked in a tie stall barn until 2009 when we built the free stall barn we are in now. We had a double 8 parabone parlor where the holding pen and office are we milked about 85 cow in the parlor we we able to use the parlor while construction of the robot was being done about a month into the robot we ripped out the parlor and made it into the holding pen and office that it is today
Could you discuss more on your choice of guided flow vs free flow and how the flow works around the barn. Thanks
Being able to feed half the pellets on guided was the main reason also knowing a cow couldn't circle the robot all day was another big reason. The flow in the barn seems to be good most of the herd takes care of themselves there are a few that when cleaning stalls you have to make sure get into the holding pen but most of those cows aren't pregnant and just waiting for someone to replace them and delaval designed the system they came out and looked at the barn and came up with what they felt would work the best and I questioned them the whole way through the process so I understood and felt that it was the best way because at the end of the day I get to live with what got done they don't but I am extremely with how it's been working so far. So here's a little advice to anyone looking at a robot make sure you believe in the plan there selling I don't care what color it is just remember your the one that has to execute the plan and if you don't believe what are the odds it will be successful
@@weyerdairy7881 Thanks for those thoughts and advice. I look forward to more videos and would be interested in following cows around the flow in the barn. I really appreciate the time you take to make these videos, as a dairy farmer from Australia I know how little spare time there is. We are all grazing with grain while they are milked, each cow gets fed 4 to 12 kg per grain depending on milk production while they are been milked and then back out to pasture. I can not understand why pellets when you could feed an on farm grain mix a lot cheaper augered in instead of pelletts. We reduce dust with canola oil in the mix.
Hey longer lactations are proving to be a good thing!
We milked 86 head 2 times a day 2 1/2 hours each time , not seeing how you would spend 45 minutes a day on a cow, but we were free stall 6 units, barn 245’ long ,old style barn silos on end, other end was gutter cleaning system, bull pen and maternity pen, lean 2 wer for different ages of calves,to yearling
Why does it matter when the milkman comes. The milk then automatically goes to the milk buffer.
I’m maxed out at roughly 64 cows at average 85 lbs a day with the Lely A4…ideal is 55 cows
Could the robot milk more than 80 cows in a full feed first or milk first system? In your opinion now, what would be its maximum capacity in either cow numbers, milk harvested per day, or number of milkings per day? Thank you for a great video.
I feel 85 cows will be max. I don't think the feed first or milk first system will gain you more cows it might save you a fetch cow or 2. We are putting a little over 6000 lbs a day through the robot I was told from delaval there are very few people getting around 7000 lbs and there normally in barns with multiple robots cause they cherry pick cows on 1 robot group to get it. My high for milkings in a day was 217 I did that once so far. Now since the video I did talk with delaval and they recommend that when looking at a robot you should plan on 5000 lbs per robot because that is what the robots are averaging over all clearly they can do more but financially you shouldn't bank on that cause if your not building a new barn cow flow can be affected and what I was told by that is barns with narrow alleys slow down cow flow
@@weyerdairy7881 thank you so much for that, so useful and so much down to earth common sense.
@Henn-Hillar Kalkun right now we are at 2.5
@@weyerdairy7881 Man, Please... You have 2,47 avg milkings. In that case You are able to milk 120 cows on one robot... If U had 3 milkings on average with 80 cow I would congratulate to You. Please, show number of Your cows when You achive 3 or more milkings on average per day. Wish You all the best.
Thanks for making the video. Is milk yield per cow lower with this system than voluntary milking?
I don't think so but I feel it allows you the ability to have a lower yield successfully because your input costs are lower cause in guided the robot and the bunk are driving the cows so you are able to feed a higher energy diet in the bunk giving you the ability to feed less pellets through the robot we personally are at 6lbs of pellets in the robot where in free flow our nutritionist told us we would need 11 1/2lbs of pellets and right now at 340 a ton for pellets that cost adds up fast
Weyer Dairy thanks. very interesting. Never seen this layout before. Can you setup two robots with one fetch pen for 160 cows too?
@@gethinjones7501 yes you can
How often in an average week do you get calls from the robot?
You get some notifications daily I would say once a month you get a call where you have to go out to the robot and thats normally due to a cow kicked the arm so hard that it needs to be recalibrated or the cup sucked up something and the meter got plugged so it has no vacuum on one quarter as far as a robot breakdown I would say once every 3 to 4 months and normally it's something stupid like a sencer getting out of whack that I am able to fix myself
@@weyerdairy7881 thanks for the reply , don’t sound bad , pretty reliable
@@Justangs I think it is especially since it does run 24,7
How much did it cost for the whole setup ?
Around 300 thousand if you watch does a vms 300 pay for itself or is it a financial nightmare it breaks things down and costs of the project
@@weyerdairy7881 thanks for the info !
@@azharsayed4245 your welcome
I feel really sorry for that timid Heifer thats gets into that crowded fetch Pen... She will spend hours until she finds a slot to get into that robot... We milk up to 6500kg Sold milk with 3 ams in free Flow - its possible!
typical German comment🙈