Robotic milking?

dungfly

I am interested in getting up to date info on robotic miking.

-Brands
-Costs
-Time
-Capacity
-Pay back
-Experiences
-Alternatives

brian_t

There was some discussion about it on this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056749120 - Lely robot day

dungfly

dungfly wrote: »

I am interested in getting up to date info on robotic miking.

-Brands
-Costs
-Time
-Capacity
-Pay back
-Experiences
-Alternatives

-Brands
Paco/Fullwood - cheaper
Lely - more expensive

Does anyone have costs on these?

F.D

Isn't Fullwood using the old lely technology ?
I would imagine Lely are leading the way with sales for a reason, wasn't the ideas of the open days to celebrate 20 years of robotic milking, thats a lot of experience,
as for costs etc i have no idea but i'd imagine the main thing would be to visit farms who are using them sucessfully on grazing

Rovi

dungfly wrote: »

-Brands
Paco/Fullwood - cheaper
Lely - more expensive

Does anyone have costs on these?

DeLaval - no idea

dungfly

How common are robots in Ireand?

stop thelights

Lely 2 robots 225k 8k a year for service, chemical and parts

Fullwood 180k to 190k for 2 robots, 6k to 7k for full service as above

Delaval 190k for 2 robots, 9k for full service package (Gold I think its called)

Note figures are very rough and from memory!

All prices are from ploughing, lely only make selling at the moment, Delaval and Fullwodd will be selling from jan on or so they were saying!

sh1tstirrer

dungfly wrote: »

How common are robots in Ireand?

There are a few of them around not many though. I read somewhere lately about a farmer that went the robot route and he has his cows grazing, he says it works and the cows visit the robot 3 or 4 times a day.

Pacoa

Delaval 190k for 2 robots

Are you sure thats not 290k for 2 robots?
I thought the delaval was dearer than the lely.

maxxuumman

stop thelights wrote: »

Lely 2 robots 225k 8k a year for service, chemical and parts

Fullwood 180k to 190k for 2 robots, 6k to 7k for full service as above

Delaval 190k for 2 robots, 9k for full service package (Gold I think its called)

Note figures are very rough and from memory!

All prices are from ploughing, lely only make selling at the moment, Delaval and Fullwodd will be selling from jan on or so they were saying!

Great figures. Thanks.

stop thelights

Pacoa wrote: »

Are you sure thats not 290k for 2 robots?
I thought the delaval was dearer than the lely.

Nope 190k with graze way gates! Service plan with them is reviewed every 3 years. I reckon its the service area is where the robots are very expensive.

They will have to bring in a programme that if you buy a robot from what ever make they will train you up so you can service it yourself!

Price for robots will come down within the next year or two!

mahoney_j

Robots are not the answer in this country,They are too expensive and require bidg adaption of an existing system.Lely robot is limited to 70 cows at a cost of roughly 120k and 8 k a year service contract.if i were going the robot route i would seriously look at g.e.a farm technologies mi one robot it is a single arm robot which can service 5 different boxes.my advice would be to go for a high spec parlour with acrs feed to yield drafting auto washer etc.Much better invertement in the long term.I put in a new westfallia 14 unit with the abve this year if u want any info on it

dungfly

mahoney_j wrote: »

Robots are not the answer in this country,They are too expensive and require bidg adaption of an existing system.Lely robot is limited to 70 cows at a cost of roughly 120k and 8 k a year service contract.if i were going the robot route i would seriously look at g.e.a farm technologies mi one robot it is a single arm robot which can service 5 different boxes.my advice would be to go for a high spec parlour with acrs feed to yield drafting auto washer etc.Much better invertement in the long term.I put in a new westfallia 14 unit with the abve this year if u want any info on it

I am very interested. Could you elaborate please?

bbam

stop thelights wrote: »

Nope 190k with graze way gates! Service plan with them is reviewed every 3 years. I reckon its the service area is where the robots are very expensive.

They will have to bring in a programme that if you buy a robot from what ever make they will train you up so you can service it yourself!

Price for robots will come down within the next year or two!

There is no way in hell a company like Alfa are going
To hand over the servicing to the customer. Anyway how are you Going to test or calibrate it?
Seriously, if you can't afford the maintenance in a piece of equipment don't buy it. Even a basic parlour isn't worth scrap if it's not serviced correctly.

grazeaway

Look the automation on robots is not rocket science. Yes everything is a bit more complicated but it is designed to take a bit of punishment. If a farmer has a bit of technical know how (mechanic or electrician training) then working out any issues can be done. From my experience in industry (I work shift in a pharma plant) I know that the vast majority of maintenance can be done by doing low level checks like checking sensors, wiring, oil levels etc and doing functional checks. By doing these you can eliminate a lot of the needs to call service guy. changing out the on board PC and controllers is very much a plug in job. If a large multi national can trust the likes of me with the day to day running of a multi million dollar piece of kit then I'd be confident that I could look after a robot milker. You would be amazed how quickly someone will figure out he workings of even the most complicated equipment when they are using it every day. Farmers are the same just look the gear tillage and contractors are running these days.

blue5000

stop thelights wrote: »

Lely 2 robots 225k 8k a year for service, chemical and parts

Fullwood 180k to 190k for 2 robots, 6k to 7k for full service as above

Delaval 190k for 2 robots, 9k for full service package (Gold I think its called)

Note figures are very rough and from memory!

All prices are from ploughing, lely only make selling at the moment, Delaval and Fullwodd will be selling from jan on or so they were saying!

Don't forget the neck bands and transponders at 100e a pop;)

bbam

grazeaway wrote: »

Look the automation on robots is not rocket science. Yes everything is a bit more complicated but it is designed to take a bit of punishment. If a farmer has a bit of technical know how (mechanic or electrician training) then working out any issues can be done. From my experience in industry (I work shift in a pharma plant) I know that the vast majority of maintenance can be done by doing low level checks like checking sensors, wiring, oil levels etc and doing functional checks. By doing these you can eliminate a lot of the needs to call service guy. changing out the on board PC and controllers is very much a plug in job. If a large multi national can trust the likes of me with the day to day running of a multi million dollar piece of kit then I'd be confident that I could look after a robot milker. You would be amazed how quickly someone will figure out he workings of even the most complicated equipment when they are using it every day. Farmers are the same just look the gear tillage and contractors are running these days.

Having worked both on milking machine maintenance and like yourself equipment maintenance in a multinational I'd still say milking equient maintenance should be left to the service engineers. It doesn't take too much wrong with a machine to increase SCC or maybe even blackspot. If your handling a herd of 80 or 100 good cows you don't want the machine abusing them. Many of the set ups and calibration requires specialised equipment to ensure it works properly.
Yes basic oil and filter checks can be done by the operator, but there is a fair ammount of specialised work involved too.

stop thelights

bbam wrote: »

There is no way in hell a company like Alfa are going
To hand over the servicing to the customer. Anyway how are you Going to test or calibrate it?
Seriously, if you can't afford the maintenance in a piece of equipment don't buy it. Even a basic parlour isn't worth scrap if it's not serviced correctly.

Someone got out on the wrong side of the bed:pac:

What i'm saying is that SIMPLE servcing like replacing ACR ropes, air lines, liners or pipes that have to be carried out periodically could be done by the farmer. Everthing is grouped together on the robots. So a little taining by the manufacture would easily cover the basics of ROUTINE maintenance.

Theres no way there going to hand over the servicing of them to the farmer because its going to be a big money generater for them. Take lely master contract for 2 robots.

8k a year over ten years = 80k. includes chemicals and parts.
Our current parlour 1.5k a year for same over ten years =15k
As blue5000 said transponders need to be replaced every 3 yrs when battery goes (sealed unit so cant replace battery) i think €60 a pop.

Now this is the good bit. There comes a point when being on the master contract becomes uneconomical for lely. When the machine is 13yr old all the parts have to be replaced at the farmers cost to continue on the master contract.

So bbam, what I'm saying is that most farmers get brain washed into buying these machines without looking at the full costs. They could easily sink a farm is they dont work right. What happens in yr 20? new robots?:pac::pac:

bbam

stop thelights wrote: »

Someone got out on the wrong side of the bed:pac:

Yea it may seem so... I've seen first hand the damage caused by machines and botched maintenance, its so worth keeping a machine well..

As for the economics of robot machines...
Well, those spending old money might have a chance of making a profit in the same way that lads buying land with old money have some hope..

If you're borrowing money to set this up I'd be very worried about the long term finances of the enterprise.. I think future milk prices are much too unknown for such an investment above a good herringbone parlour..

I'd love to know what the driving factor for having one really is.. Are people motivated by an aversion to standing milking cows?? What do they plan to do with this free time to pay for the investment??

st1979

bbam wrote: »

stop thelights wrote: »

Someone got out on the wrong side of the bed:pac:

Yea it may seem so... I've seen first hand the damage caused by machines and botched maintenance, its so worth keeping a machine well..

As for the economics of robot machines...
Well, those spending old money might have a chance of making a profit in the same way that lads buying land with old money have some hope..

If you're borrowing money to set this up I'd be very worried about the long term finances of the enterprise.. I think future milk prices are much too unknown for such an investment above a good herringbone parlour..

I'd love to know what the driving factor for having one really is.. Are people motivated by an aversion to standing milking cows?? What do they plan to do with this free time to pay for the investment??

Well 90% of dutch parlours installed each year and 50% of UK parlours are robots. They can't be all mad or have old money can they. I have a recently installed herringbone with most of the bells and whistles and don't believe a robot is for me. But I know some farmers that I think a robot would suit. I think its best to have an open mind on these things. The nz approach doesn't suit every farm or every farmer. Not sure if they even really suit grazing at all. I think if you had a small land base and wanted to dairy it might be feasible and zero graze.

stop thelights

I'd love to know what the driving factor for having one really is.. Are people motivated by an aversion to standing milking cows?? What do they plan to do with this free time to pay for the investment??[/QUOTE]


I reckon the most common factor is that the farmer in question is getting older hasn't upgraded the parlour in years. May not have family to help out at milking/ feeding calves but doesnt want to give up cows as they have nothing else to do. Probably has old money built up!

Still though how can they get a robot for €70,000 in Holland and its €125,000 here! Was talking to the fella in moorepark thats manging the fullwood robot. He saids it working very well and he said that they do most of the servicing them selves. Milking 70 cows I think and the service for the year is costing €1100

We missed out on the grant the last time to upgrade our parlour as we were just outside the cut off date. For us robots would suit as we milk all year round. Instead of building a parlour we could build a extension onto our existing cow house giving us extra slurry storage, cublices and feed space. But we dont have any old money :pac: so I'd say we're going down the traditional route nxt year!;)

F.D

it's kinda funny that the price of machines and serviceing is the biggest problem for most farmers in the dairy business, jack kennedy must have everyone afraid to spend money with the low cost speal he keeps going on about, how many farmers spends 70-> 100k on a new tractor these days and justify it to sit in the yard doing nothing most days, then they go and stand in a milking parlour for 4 hours a day, if you worked out the hours the machine works for the cost i'm sure it would not seem as expensive, the biggest problem is farmers never value there own time, i see the biggest advantage in calving season, and getting paddocks ready for turn out, if you had no one to give you a hand at least you can concentrate on calf rearing and these other jobs, As a cost comparasion for a man going to milk 70 cows, if he put in a new 12 or 14 unit parlour with all the technology the robot has i'll bet between it and all the building costs there wouldnt be much difference in price. or the parlour could even be more expensive, and you still have to stand there and milk in it.

grazeaway

F.D wrote: »

it's kinda funny that the price of machines and serviceing is the biggest problem for most farmers in the dairy business, jack kennedy must have everyone afraid to spend money with the low cost speal he keeps going on about, how many farmers spends 70-> 100k on a new tractor these days and justify it to sit in the yard doing nothing most days, then they go and stand in a milking parlour for 4 hours a day, if you worked out the hours the machine works for the cost i'm sure it would not seem as expensive, the biggest problem is farmers never value there own time, i see the biggest advantage in calving season, and getting paddocks ready for turn out, if you had no one to give you a hand at least you can concentrate on calf rearing and these other jobs, As a cost comparasion for a man going to milk 70 cows, if he put in a new 12 or 14 unit parlour with all the technology the robot has i'll bet between it and all the building costs there wouldnt be much difference in price. or the parlour could even be more expensive, and you still have to stand there and milk in it.

I know this topic has been up before and I've thrown my two cents in on it. As the lads above have mentioned the robot system will only work if the set up and system match. Not every dairy farmer in the country has a solely dairy enterprise (my dad used to have a tillage operation as well when he was milking) and not every dairy farmer is full time or is able to do every milking twice a day 7 days a week. I have seen the dairy layouts on the continent and while the systems are not identical to the Irish set up I know that a number of farmers are looking to try and maximise the grazing of their herds to reduce costs. Unlike here with our mild weather zero grazing is more common but some farmers are looking at being able to use the paddocks nearest the shed for the cows to graze when the weather suits.

The benefits of the robot are clear but they need to be balanced with the extra costs. To be able to make best use of the robot then the other systems need to be in place to begin with, that is good housing, storage and adequate space to fit the robot with out having to make wholesale changes to the existing shed and tanks. Also to make the best use of the grazing then the paddocks and road ways need to be in good order. Now most dairy farms have improved their sheds, fencing and roadways in recent times so that should not be an issue. However if your parlours needs upgrading then it may be a real option especially if you are paying someone to come in a milk the cows.

My view is that if you need to upgrade the parlour and you are fulltime milking and are prepared to milk every day (or can split the labour at no extra cost) the traditional herring bone is the way, but if you don't have the time to do it your self then a robot is a option that should be looked at. As a friend of mine told me last year "why am I working 60-70 hours a week to provide for the family when the only time I see them is when they are eating or sleeping??", very hard to put a cost on being able to spend time with family.

A real cost benefit analysis should be carried out when thinking of changing the parlour and that should include a real cost for ones own labour especially on weekends and holidays. One of the things my dad really didn't miss when he gave up the cows was rushing home on a Sunday to do the milking, he worked hard enough he should be able to enjoy his time off.

As for the cost, we live in a free market economy so we can buy goods and services from anywhere in the EU and if more people start to look a sourcing from the UK and beyond than that will have a knock on effect in Ireland and the companies will have to drop their prices. This is what happens in other industries why not use it to benefit dairy farmers?

stop thelights

F.D wrote: »

it's kinda funny that the price of machines and serviceing is the biggest problem for most farmers in the dairy business, jack kennedy must have everyone afraid to spend money with the low cost speal he keeps going on about, how many farmers spends 70-> 100k on a new tractor these days and justify it to sit in the yard doing nothing most days, then they go and stand in a milking parlour for 4 hours a day, if you worked out the hours the machine works for the cost i'm sure it would not seem as expensive, the biggest problem is farmers never value there own time, i see the biggest advantage in calving season, and getting paddocks ready for turn out, if you had no one to give you a hand at least you can concentrate on calf rearing and these other jobs, As a cost comparasion for a man going to milk 70 cows, if he put in a new 12 or 14 unit parlour with all the technology the robot has i'll bet between it and all the building costs there wouldnt be much difference in price. or the parlour could even be more expensive, and you still have to stand there and milk in it.

Jez if everyone listened to jack kennedy we'd all have jersey cross cows, stand off pads and earth bank lagoons full of water and be broke from paying superlevys:pac:

I know I keep going on about the price but its comes down to VFM (Value for money). The parlour might be more expensive than a robot at 70 cows but that parlour could milk 140 cows no bother in the morning where as you have to drop another 100k + for another robot to milk that much!

You are more flexible with the traditional set up but IMO its only time before robots become the norm!

mahoney_j

Ill proably shot for saying this but i know of 2 guys with robots and to me the only reason they put them in is because they dont like milking cows but like a milk mcheque every month and secondly they are lazy..They have cows locked in a shed all year round and zero graze grass in to them.This is a high cost system and cow turnover is high.Why take away our cheapest and best value feed grass.Robotic parlours are too expensive and high cost to survive the milk price volatility that we will see over the next few years

grazeaway

mahoney_j wrote: »

Ill proably shot for saying this but i know of 2 guys with robots and to me the only reason they put them in is because they dont like milking cows but like a milk mcheque every month and secondly they are lazy..They have cows locked in a shed all year round and zero graze grass in to them.This is a high cost system and cow turnover is high.Why take away our cheapest and best value feed grass.Robotic parlours are too expensive and high cost to survive the milk price volatility that we will see over the next few years

A bit harsh, lots of farmers were forced to have their cows indoors this year, would be slow to call them lazy. Just cos someone doesn't want to spend 4or 5 hours a day milking doesn't mean they are lazy. I know plenty of farmers that hire in relief milkers so that they can do something else with their time. I don't see the difference between paying for milkers and paying robots.

stanflt

just after watching the lely dvd, very impressive.


i am thinking of expansion and think that the robot is the only way to go on rented ground. no need for huge sheds and when the lease is up you can unscrew you anchor bolts and put the machine somewhere else. they work really well with grazing system(farmer must be an excellent grassland manager)

low cost 85euro a day over ten years which includes maintanence for 2robots capable of milking 140cows 365- i know lads paying farm workers more than this just to get their cows milked. robots dont ring in sick, not diagnose mastitis, not clean the cows. dont feed them correctly etc etc oh ya and dont have to pay for holidays or pension

bbam

stanflt wrote: »

robots dont ring in sick, not diagnose mastitis, not clean the cows. dont feed them correctly etc etc oh

Really??
I worked maintenance on robots of one type or another for more than 10 years and at one time or another I've seen them "not do" just about everything they were designed to and then lots of things nobody thought they would..

I appreciate lads are making a good argument for them here, and its made me think differently about them, but don't be fooled into thinking they are some kind of milking utopia.

stanflt

bbam wrote: »

Really??
I worked maintenance on robots of one type or another for more than 10 years and at one time or another I've seen them "not do" just about everything they were designed to and then lots of things nobody thought they would..

I appreciate lads are making a good argument for them here, and its made me think differently about them, but don't be fooled into thinking they are some kind of milking utopia.

how long ago did you stop working on robotic milking machines- technology gets better every day

mahoney_j

stanflt wrote: »

just after watching the lely dvd, very impressive.


i am thinking of expansion and think that the robot is the only way to go on rented ground. no need for huge sheds and when the lease is up you can unscrew you anchor bolts and put the machine somewhere else. they work really well with grazing system(farmer must be an excellent grassland manager)

low cost 85euro a day over ten years which includes maintanence for 2robots capable of milking 140cows 365- i know lads paying farm workers more than this just to get their cows milked. robots dont ring in sick, not diagnose mastitis, not clean the cows. dont feed them correctly etc etc oh ya and dont have to pay for holidays or pension

Dont forgot the cost of milk tank nd compressor plus the cost of moving them also for a robot u will most likely need 3 phase power to run it efficently.Putting a robot on rented to me is a risky game unless ur locked into a lease for at least 10 years also i think ull need a not so basic shed plus have to put in concrete yards collection tanks etc and if planning on graxing grass ull need an excellent road network on the farm.To me Arobot in this country is only an option if u have 1600 gallon a year plus and possibly 2000 gallon and are willing to have them in a shed all year with zero grazed grass and buffer feed with concetrate silage maize beet straw etc for most of the year.Thts my 2 pennys worth anyway

bbam

stanflt wrote: »

how long ago did you stop working on robotic milking machines- technology gets better every day

I'll admit my robotic experience isn't trough the dairy industry, in fact they were much more advanced machines working to much tighter tolerances and yet they would have their "off days", "cock-up's" and downright refusals to work...

dungfly

mahoney_j wrote: »

Robots are not the answer in this country,They are too expensive and require bidg adaption of an existing system.Lely robot is limited to 70 cows at a cost of roughly 120k and 8 k a year service contract.if i were going the robot route i would seriously look at g.e.a farm technologies mi one robot it is a single arm robot which can service 5 different boxes.my advice would be to go for a high spec parlour with acrs feed to yield drafting auto washer etc.Much better invertement in the long term.I put in a new westfallia 14 unit with the abve this year if u want any info on it

Could you provide more info on your new westfallia parlour? Any pics, links, appreciated. I am thinking of putting in a palour.

delaval

dungfly wrote: »

Could you provide more info on your new westfallia parlour? Any pics, links, appreciated. I am thinking of putting in a palour.

Why are you interested in spending a Moxy load of money on toys that are not necessary and can serve to halve the contact you have with the cow?

darragh_haven

delaval wrote: »

Why are you interested in spending a Moxy load of money on toys that are not necessary and can serve to halve the contact you have with the cow?

Maybe he might not milking cows, but like the rest of the life.

delaval

darragh_haven wrote: »

Maybe he might not milking cows, but like the rest of the life.

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

Why are you interested in spending a Moxy load of money on toys that are not necessary and can serve to halve the contact you have with the cow?

Horses for courses delaval,After giving a year milking in my new parlour i wouldnt be without any of the so called gizmos.The dump line is so handy in spring especially when you could have a lot of fresh cows in the parlour mixed with cows going to the tank.No foolong around with bucket units plus i can be 100% sure that a cow going down the dump line will not cross contiminate any milk going to the tank as it has a seperate line,Pump and clusters.The auto id and feed to yield are also not to be done without,Cows are feed to what there milking potential is so i am making a saving by not under feeding some cows and over feeding others.I also have a view of what each cow is milking and wether she is up or down on prrevious morning or evening milking and more importantly conductivity which is a very good indicator of a cow with high cell count or that a mastitis case is on the way.I was able to ick up a mastitis case a day to a day and a half before she had any clots and treat her accordingly by doing a cmt test.The acrs also stop cows from been over milked
I see too many guys in new parlours running around the place and mistakes are bound to happen.You simply cant beat technology in a new parlour.It makes your new parlour more efficent and a stress free environement for both you and cow.Sayig that i have a herd of holstein cows with average yields around the 7500 ltr (but i have some that will milk 10000 ltrs)mark so it was built to suit them.They are feed beteween a tonne to 1.6 tonne of meal in the parlour and as much grass as i can get into them.Even last year all my cows were dried off in super condition and have been on nothing only ad lib silage (77dmd) and a kg of straw for the winter.The parlour was dear on day 1 yes but its a 30 year plus build.Ive seen some new bog standard parlours put up but they will always need modification.I also saw the green field parlour in kilkenny and it aint a place id like to milk in,No automation what so ever and open on both sides to the elements

delaval

How much per unit? The greenfield one only takes the milk from the cow, is that only what yours does?

John_F

delaval wrote: »

How much per unit? The greenfield one only takes the milk from the cow, is that only what yours does?

obviously not only when he says he has
- auto id
- auto drafting
- conductivity monitoring
- feed to yield / cow condition
- stand alone dumpline



would be looking at well over €5,000 a unit for that class of a machine keep in mind - including stall work, mangers, feeders plus the usual stuff. as said it is a lifetime job

are you happy with GEA westfalia mahoney?
any issues with auto id not reading (hear of people with auto id and a few issues of it not working 100%),
did you go for the IQ cluster or the classic?
variable speed vac pump?
are the meters metatron or dematron?
photos if you can please :cool:

mahoney_j

John_F wrote: »

obviously not only when he says he has
- auto id
- auto drafting
- conductivity monitoring
- feed to yield / cow condition
- stand alone dumpline



would be looking at well over €5,000 a unit for that class of a machine keep in mind - including stall work, mangers, feeders plus the usual stuff. as said it is a lifetime job

are you happy with GEA westfalia mahoney?
any issues with auto id not reading (hear of people with auto id and a few issues of it not working 100%),
did you go for the IQ cluster or the classic?
variable speed vac pump?
are the meters metatron or dematron?
photos if you can please :cool:

Yep 100% happpy with the gea team,They really do provide a top class service right from support for parlour issues to mastitis
/cell count problems and dairy hygiene.They have never let me down from the moment i signed the contract i had all the help and support i needed.Parlour was delievered and installed within my agreede timeframe and i had full backup support when i started to milk in it for the first time
As regards spec i went with the iq cluster,Variable speed vacume and the p21 metatron meters.if you require any more info send me a pm with ur email address and ill provide you with any info you need plus some pics of my parlour.You were fairly on the ball as regards cost as well about 5500 a unit but money very well spent.Alot of people have been brought to see it and all bar 1 were well impressed with the quality of materials,spec and ease of use.The one guy that thought the whole thing was mad was a guy milking 60 or 70 jerseys/crossbreeds but it really aint a parlour for that type of cow.He commented that my 14 unit would fit about 23 or 24 of his cows

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

How much per unit? The greenfield one only takes the milk from the cow, is that only what yours does?

It takes milk form the cow yeadh but also a hell of a lot more
Feeds cow to yield so she will reach her full potentil
acrs to prevent overmilking
Variable speed vaccume
milking to milking yield and conductivity reports
stress free environement for cow and milker
Long term inverstement ,Dont see any more modifications in the medium to long term.Software updates only
And more but too tiered to think of them,Long day calving cows etc and ****e weather has the brain fried!!!

dungfly

mahoney_j wrote: »

Yep 100% happpy with the gea team,They really do provide a top class service right from support for parlour issues to mastitis
/cell count problems and dairy hygiene.They have never let me down from the moment i signed the contract i had all the help and support i needed.Parlour was delievered and installed within my agreede timeframe and i had full backup support when i started to milk in it for the first time
As regards spec i went with the iq cluster,Variable speed vacume and the p21 metatron meters.if you require any more info send me a pm with ur email address and ill provide you with any info you need plus some pics of my parlour.You were fairly on the ball as regards cost as well about 5500 a unit but money very well spent.Alot of people have been brought to see it and all bar 1 were well impressed with the quality of materials,spec and ease of use.The one guy that thought the whole thing was mad was a guy milking 60 or 70 jerseys/crossbreeds but it really aint a parlour for that type of cow.He commented that my 14 unit would fit about 23 or 24 of his cows

Hi Mahoney, do you milk all year round? Can milk meters and the like only justifiable for spring calvers?

PS great to hear you are getting on well in the parlor.

mahoney_j

Spring calving at the moment but will look at either bringing back my calving start date form feb 1 to about 15 jan or else take the plunge ang to liquid milk(really dont want to do that though)Quota limmiting me at the moment and land will when quotas go but i have the guts of 80 acres to milk on as well as an outside block so i will push up to the around the 90 cow mark.As regards justifing all the above for spring milk i think i can any way due to my holstein type cow and their yields,No way u could though for a crossbred herd.They simply wouldnt be able to produce the volume of milk.Never see myself going the crossbred route though

dungfly

I am very impressed by your setup. Iam getting into dairy soon. Buying calves soon and doing up the old parlour before 2015. Planning a 16 unit medium spec to begin with. Did you build your parlour from scratch or recondition an existing system?

Timmaay

mahoney_j wrote: »

You were fairly on the ball as regards cost as well about 5500 a unit but money very well spent.

That 5500 all in, including stallwork etc? I know a chap who put in a similar enough parlour, but it was a fullwood, he spent 7500 per unit :eek:, it was all in at least.

Hmmm gone sorta wayyy offtopic from the thread title ha, Robots anyones?

dungfly

Timmaay wrote: »

That 5500 all in, including stallwork etc? I know a chap who put in a similar enough parlour, but it was a fullwood, he spent 7500 per unit :eek:, it was all in at least.

Hmmm gone sorta wayyy offtopic from the thread title ha, Robots anyones?

Its my thread and I welcome an open discussion. My approach is to learn of others experience.

Timmaay

http://farmingforum.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=766 lots of reading for ya here!!!! Plenty of lads posting in that thread who actually have robots in!

delaval

Mahoney, I really expected it to have cost a hell of alot more. Out of interest what kilos ms/cow and ha did you sell last year. By the sounds of it I think xbreds are not for you especially on limited land. Had a guy called to look at ours, similar land and cows to yourself and it took all my efforts to persuade him not to go xbred..........he is the sort of guy into the latest fad!!!

mahoney_j

Timmaay wrote: »

That 5500 all in, including stallwork etc? I know a chap who put in a similar enough parlour, but it was a fullwood, he spent 7500 per unit :eek:, it was all in at least.

Hmmm gone sorta wayyy offtopic from the thread title ha, Robots anyones?

Yep that was for all stallwork,Managers, milk lines vaccume pumps etc.Fullwood also a serious parlour and to me they were the only other company in the running who could offer something simillar.The only other costs i had were for electrical work,a computer,Parlour washdown system and some minor plumbing work as well as building the actual shed

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

Mahoney, I really expected it to have cost a hell of alot more. Out of interest what kilos ms/cow and ha did you sell last year. By the sounds of it I think xbreds are not for you especially on limited land. Had a guy called to look at ours, similar land and cows to yourself and it took all my efforts to persuade him not to go xbred..........he is the sort of guy into the latest fad!!!

540 kg of solids delaval on an average of about 1.1 tonne of meal per cow.All milk was produced frfom grass from 03 feb to 14 nov and for the rest of nov cows were indoors on 83 dmd bales.And yes crossbreeds are definetly not for me for the simple reason i simply dont have a big enough land base.I have good free draining dry land.For me x breeds are only feaseable if you have a large milking platform as they will simply not produce the litres of milk,but solids yes and i accept the fact that we are paid for solids but ultimately you need to produce good milk yields to have high solids.i just like the holstein and british freisan/holstein cross.They are ainmals that are ideally suited to irish grassland conditions,especially at high stocking rates(2.8 and above)as ultimately you will hit a grass shortage at some stage during the year and if concentrate is introduced they will mantain condition and keep milking well.your cull cow,Milking cow,Replacement heifer and male calf are also worth a lot more than any crossbred.Anyway i respect the fact that some guys like yourself are milking crossbreeds and doing a damn good job at it but they will never be my cup of tea!!

delaval

You must be growing a lot of grass to only have fed 1 tonne, guessing used 12 tonnes+ used

delaval

Interesting piece in IFJ about a robot set up in Meath.

A lot of cows 250+ at grass, spring calving. Has anyone seen this setup?