Making the most of a robotic dairy system

Michael Ball is joined by Nigel Hardie of The Dairy Group as they explore how to make the most out of a robotic milking system.

Michael and Tony were looking to expand the herd by 250 cows and initially looked at a rotary parlour

• By increasing their cow numbers they recognised that this would increase staffing costs and availabiloty of staffing was difficult across our area
• They saw the robotic milking system at a couple of events and thought this would provide the best solution to their needs
• They believed this would enable them to benefit from additional milking from the cows without adding to staffing costs
• They also beleived it would extend the long-term health, welfare and longevity of their cows in a less stressful, easy to manage system
• They have been utilising a robotic milking system successfully for over four years now and say they would never go back to a parlour based system
• It takes time for the cows to get trained into the new system and this that needs accounting for in those planning to transition to robots
• It also takes time for those adopting robotic systems to get get accustomed to how they need to operate
• Consideration needs to be given to getting the fed set up right any robotic system whicn your installers can help with
• Michael and Tony believe the system is really gentle on cows with them opting to feed and be milked when it suits them, minimises stress and this relates to better yeilds and longevity
• It enables flexibility in operating the farm for Micahel and Tony with less pressure to be on farm for key milking times
• If you are looking for increases in yield to support your investment getting the support of a nutitionalust is something Tony and Michael recommends
• The initial two weeks took more effort in encouraging and training the cows to go through the robotic system
• The process became much easier after six weeks by which time the cows were more or less trained
• New calf heiffers normally take about 10 days before they use the robot on their own
• Work closely with your installing consultants on calibration to ensure it meets your needs 
• There's a host of data provided by the system that can help you recognise poor performers or potential issues – its work getting some specialist training on understanding this thoroughly

Michael Ball explains why Coton Wood decided to switch to a robotic system and what they've learned.