New milking parlour

What are the current start up costs for a robot on a green field site for say 60-70 cows. paddocks/roads/sheds are already in place. So it would just be the milking facilities. 100k for the purchase of 60-70 cows and would another 100k build what I need, would use second hand robot if these are reliable. Would you run 70 cows on 50ac for milking, would be stocking at 1.4cows ac on dry ground. just thinking as its as good as anytime to be pricing up if a system would run or not.

As someone said to me yesterday a cow doing 25l @24c a litre is €5 a day output, this figure even in bad dairy times unheard of in beef, even during its best pay days.

As regards how many cows you will milk on 50ac , it depends more on how much grass can you grow . I.E. quality of the land ph,fertility status ,when was it reseeded,etc.
The building to house the robot is harmless enough. The dairy and milk tank, power supply, water, all extra cost.
 
2 full wood robots 10 tonne meal bin and 12000 lts bulk tank €240000. They went in local to me the brother works on the farm. The work that had to be done for them was unbelievable passages,sheds,fencing
Another point to note I don't think there's in by day out by night is either in or out
New Lely gone in beside me to milk sixty cows,existing sheds converted, new tank meal bin and adapt farm roadways and fencing cost e200k.
 
local lad who installed robots has to wash down plant every 3/4 hours ,if you installed robot up on slats could this reduce the times robot is washed down every day
 
local lad who installed robots has to wash down plant every 3/4 hours ,if you installed robot up on slats could this reduce the times robot is washed down every day

When you say wash down do you mean the robot does a full self clean of the clusters, pipes etc?
 
Just taking a look here €100k should get it done second hand and thats buying the dearest 2011 second hand robot.
http://tim-gibson.com/used-equipment/


How would you fair with one of the cheap Lely robots the A2. one advertised at the bottom of the page for £10k ??????http://tim-gibson.com/products/used-lely-astronaut-a2-milking-robots/

I presume you could lease the whole system of Lely which would fix your costs. might be the best way forward.

No point going for the very early robots as there are none in Southern Ireland so nobody knows how to fix them. They also have different communications systems to the A3 or newer which is what you should be aiming for
 
Robots aside, how many cows could you keep on 45 acres of ground and how much would it cost to build a parlour and accommodation for that many?
 
No point going for the very early robots as there are none in Southern Ireland so nobody knows how to fix them. They also have different communications systems to the A3 or newer which is what you should be aiming for
Its the likes of this craic turns me off most electronics in agriculture.
If anything before A3 is useless what's the point?
In another couple of years will lads be told A3 is a waste of time and not supported?
 
Its the likes of this craic turns me off most electronics in agriculture.
If anything before A3 is useless what's the point?
In another couple of years will lads be told A3 is a waste of time and not supported?

They work fine but it is an older system so will work with other A2s or earlier models. You also have to bear in mind these machines work 24/7 which is 8,760hrs per year and will now be in excess of 10 years old. That's a lot of hours.

There were no A2s sold in Southern Ireland so nobody will have experience of fixing them or have parts on the shelf. The A3 is different as it shares a lot of bits with the A4
 
Robots aside, how many cows could you keep on 45 acres of ground and how much would it cost to build a parlour and accommodation for that many?
Oh God depends on how much you want to push your ground. Is this 45ac silage ground aswell. If not 45 would be a grand start and see how you fair from there. I think accommodation is around 1500-2000 per cow I think. And a parlour well the sky is the limit ere. I know a new entrant built a parlour for 20k tank machine the hole lot.
 
Robots aside, how many cows could you keep on 45 acres of ground and how much would it cost to build a parlour and accommodation for that many?
If you concrete all 45ac and roofed it you could keep a huge number of cows there. Just buy all feed in cheaper than growing it yourself :whistle:
 
Oh God depends on how much you want to push your ground. Is this 45ac silage ground aswell. If not 45 would be a grand start and see how you fair from there. I think accommodation is around 1500-2000 per cow I think. And a parlour well the sky is the limit ere. I know a new entrant built a parlour for 20k tank machine the hole lot.
Might be one of the wiser new entrants the way things have gone in dairying. Sometimes forward vision can be as important as anything in business :Thumbp2:
 
Oh God depends on how much you want to push your ground. Is this 45ac silage ground aswell. If not 45 would be a grand start and see how you fair from there. I think accommodation is around 1500-2000 per cow I think. And a parlour well the sky is the limit ere. I know a new entrant built a parlour for 20k tank machine the hole lot.

It's a hypothetical question, I don't own 0.45 acres :laugh:
I'm just curious, there are a lot of farms of around 40-50 acres and I'd say dairying is the only mainstream enterprise that would turn a decent profit on that acreage depending of course on the start-up costs. If the 45 acres was your grazing platform would you carry 45 cows? or 60? or 20? I wouldn't have a clue, they used to talk about an acre per cow.
 
It's a hypothetical question, I don't own 0.45 acres :laugh:
I'm just curious, there are a lot of farms of around 40-50 acres and I'd say dairying is the only mainstream enterprise that would turn a decent profit on that acreage depending of course on the start-up costs. If the 45 acres was your grazing platform would you carry 45 cows? or 60? or 20? I wouldn't have a clue, they used to talk about an acre per cow.
We were dairy farmers till i was eleven. We used to run 1 animal to the acre. That was cows plus replacements as well. We used to always have plenty of grass, cattle all out by the 1st of April at the very latest. The land now is not treated a lot different but with the way the weather has changed in the last 20+ years tgere is noway we would be able to have a similar stocking ratio orhave the cattle out near as early. So for tbem reasons alone dairying would be a hard way to make money in my area. Not that suckling will make you rich either :lol:
 
It's a hypothetical question, I don't own 0.45 acres :laugh:
I'm just curious, there are a lot of farms of around 40-50 acres and I'd say dairying is the only mainstream enterprise that would turn a decent profit on that acreage depending of course on the start-up costs. If the 45 acres was your grazing platform would you carry 45 cows? or 60? or 20? I wouldn't have a clue, they used to talk about an acre per cow.
60 cows would be grand on 50 acres of grazing ground and could go a good few higher if you wanted
 
Might be one of the wiser new entrants the way things have gone in dairying. Sometimes forward vision can be as important as anything in business :Thumbp2:
He is a friend of mine and milked with me for a bit to see would he like it. He was well warned to keep expenses low. He's on his 1 nd year now and still going.
 
I'm currently working on fixing the kinks in mine.
Best advice is get a really good planner who actually understands cow flow.

If starting from a greenfield I'd design it so cows can walk directly out not turn at a right angle like most herringbone.
All the angles they have to turn at should be curved unlike most parlours
A good area for drafting is also essential. Ideally placed so the cows go back towards where they came. A covered collecting yard with slats after the parlour so the cows can stand but be clear with either rubber mats or groving through the parlour
You say your sorting the kinks out in yours what did you go for in the end. Machine wise and wot bells and whistles did you go for. And drafting aswell. Don't mean to be nosey just trying to get ideas
 
High replacement cost as in cows that don't and won't take to it.
Na not that much, figures I've heard from converts is less than 5% fail in conversion and less than that with new heifers

How do you mange spreading slurry fertiliser, cutting silage or maize things like that? With cows trying to come and go?
Who is cutting silage on their grazing platform regularly? As for slurry/fertiliser all you need to do is close the gate after you?

Not for me if your going to milk av a good parlour and milk them it's the only time in the day your as close to cows to spot anytin going on. Bulling lame cut on its tail things like that.
That could have been word for word what I wrote last year. Now. Well cost is the only thing holding me back.
Bulling lame etc all picked up by the machine in yield or sensors. On top of that mastitis should be damn near extinct. No man could see a cow's one quater spiking but the robot detects SCC per spin not even overall!
By the time you add all the tech you could get on an average robot to a parlour then add in building. I can find maybe 5,000 in it. Max
 
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