Milking 25 cows

:no: you might do it in the paddock beside the parlour but other than that, my furthest away paddock takes me 40 minutes to get them in, even 4 rows at 10 minutes a row and 15 minutes to wash up plus 20 minutes to feed calves , very few milkings done in less than 2 hours. of course you could run them home along the roadway with a quad,don,t wipe cows before milking , don,t teat spray, throw a bucket of water down the parlour and call it washed, don,t wash the calf feeders or trolly and even at that i doubt it could be done in an hour. lots of suckler lads get into cows saying there,s no more work in dairy cows than sucklers and soon change their tune

I agree but with 25 acres and 25 cows op wont be long walks.

I'd agree with you that there Is way more work with dairy than sucklers. Dairy men would often keep a few suckers when they retire
 
I'd be very cautious about this whole idea 2bh. Definitely go get some experience with messy springtime milkings, and sent both the sons down also, and see how enthusiastic they are afterwards. 1000e/cow profit is dreaming, the top top top lads who have been at it for years, low borrowings, and good stock to sell every year will do it but forgot about it starting out. As for robots, 30 cows will never ever pay for a new robot and the expenses that come with it, and a 2nd hand robot is a big lottery, only suited if your an engineer and really keen on the challenge of getting it up and running, the problem here is your trying to get a dairy business up and running the same time.
 
:no: you might do it in the paddock beside the parlour but other than that, my furthest away paddock takes me 40 minutes to get them in, even 4 rows at 10 minutes a row and 15 minutes to wash up plus 20 minutes to feed calves , very few milkings done in less than 2 hours. of course you could run them home along the roadway with a quad,don,t wipe cows before milking , don,t teat spray, throw a bucket of water down the parlour and call it washed, don,t wash the calf feeders or trolly and even at that i doubt it could be done in an hour. lots of suckler lads get into cows saying there,s no more work in dairy cows than sucklers and soon change their tune
I start milking here and either my dad or my son bring in the cows. At the moment 5 rows in 15 unit parlour all done in an hour in the evening. A bit longer in the morning. About 11 rows in the summer takes 2.5 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening.
 
As i am led to believe to get the best from a robot you have to give a share of your time saving to organising grass strip wires and need a 2 way system for cows in/out.
We don't have a 2 way system or any grass strip wires. To get the best from a robot you want the cows near it not half a mile away because they can be too lazy to bother walking back as often as they should.
 
As i am led to believe to get the best from a robot you have to give a share of your time saving to organising grass strip wires and need a 2 way system for cows in/out.
Most seem to have gone for a 3 way system except in spring and autumn. 3 different blocks with 8 hours in each for most of the year and grass by day and silage for the other 16 hours.
We don't have a 2 way system or any grass strip wires. To get the best from a robot you want the cows near it not half a mile away because they can be too lazy to bother walking back as often as they should.
Getting the cows in at the start is a problem as they are still acting like a herd. So there will be a good number of cows needing to be brought in until they adjust to realising they can get fresh grass when they come in for milking. So it takes a few weeks to get the majority used to coming in by themselves or with one or two more.
They have to be managed so that each of the 3x8 hour blocks are finished and not very attractive to stay in so they walk back to be milked and get left on to the next fresh block of grass.
The Out the Gap podcast episode 5 has a good discussion with the Mulhalls in Kilkenny about setting up and running their 3 robots.
And Lely had a webinar last night on a farm running 6 robots in Meath. You can register and listen back in the link below but last nights one isn't up yet.
 
It's easier manage grass as a dairy farmer. For example if both farmers had 100 head. The dairy farmer will have all his cows in one field with all the rest of his paddocks regrowing. The suckler farmer could have 5 groups of 20, so probably grazing 5 paddocks. Giving each paddock less of a break.

Tbh I found managing grass far more difficult when I was grazing dairy cows compared to the beef cattle here now. It was always a feast or famine in regards quantity and the quality was always balanced by adding meal and to keep the milk supply up. There was always suckers and cattle kept on to beef here as well and they were always set stocked. First cut silage was cut in the first week of June and could never be grazed so it was always well headed out and not ideal stuff to milk cows off.
After I sold the cows I was still grazing the cattle in much the same way and I was trying to strip graze anything going ahead of me which wasn't a great success.
One day in May 2007 I went to a farm walk and the farmer was grazing all his beef cattle with a rotation in place and a grazing system that involved all the cattle been moved regularly to fresh grass in the time that I was spending herding so to say that I was impressed was an understatement.
I went home that day and I asked myself why couldn't I do the same here so I gave it a go and never looked back. I started off by upgrading the electric fences and the water setup and after that I divided up the bigger fields into paddocks that could still be mowed if they had to.
Today cattle are grazed in 6 groups of 25 with 4 groups grazing outwards from the 4 corners of the farm and with 2 groups grazing towards the middle. In times of surplus I have the option now of putting in 2 groups of cattle in together and in times of shortages I can divide the cattle into smaller groups.
I wouldn't ever consider converting back to dairying due to my farm layout,there's only so far you can walk cows and it's not practical to load up cows in a trailer to move them between milkings.
 
Tbh I found managing grass far more difficult when I was grazing dairy cows compared to the beef cattle here now. It was always a feast or famine in regards quantity and the quality was always balanced by adding meal and to keep the milk supply up. There was always suckers and cattle kept on to beef here as well and they were always set stocked. First cut silage was cut in the first week of June and could never be grazed so it was always well headed out and not ideal stuff to milk cows off.
After I sold the cows I was still grazing the cattle in much the same way and I was trying to strip graze anything going ahead of me which wasn't a great success.
One day in May 2007 I went to a farm walk and the farmer was grazing all his beef cattle with a rotation in place and a grazing system that involved all the cattle been moved regularly to fresh grass in the time that I was spending herding so to say that I was impressed was an understatement.
I went home that day and I asked myself why couldn't I do the same here so I gave it a go and never looked back. I started off by upgrading the electric fences and the water setup and after that I divided up the bigger fields into paddocks that could still be mowed if they had to.
Today cattle are grazed in 6 groups of 25 with 4 groups grazing outwards from the 4 corners of the farm and with 2 groups grazing towards the middle. In times of surplus I have the option now of putting in 2 groups of cattle in together and in times of shortages I can divide the cattle into smaller groups.
I wouldn't ever consider converting back to dairying due to my farm layout,there's only so far you can walk cows and it's not practical to load up cows in a trailer to move them between milkings.
The paddocks that you have set up in the fields, do you divide them up further with temporary electric fences or do you just let one group of cattle into a full paddock.
It sounds like an interesting set up. I would like something similar here
 
The paddocks that you have set up in the fields, do you divide them up further with temporary electric fences or do you just let one group of cattle into a full paddock.
It sounds like an interesting set up. I would like something similar here

I only divide the paddocks now in the spring to train them in on grazing it out well and move them daily but it depends on the weather and how much grass is there too. During the summer I might go in and mow down half the paddock and put it in the pit and then let the cattle in to graze the un mown half if I have a surplus iywim.
 
I only divide the paddocks now in the spring to train them in on grazing it out well and move them daily but it depends on the weather and how much grass is there too. During the summer I might go in and mow down half the paddock and put it in the pit and then let the cattle in to graze the un mown half if I have a surplus iywim.
Roughly how many days grazing would there be in a paddock or what is the ideal number of days you would want a paddock to last before moving them
 
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Roughly how many days grazing would there be in a paddock or what is the ideal number of days you would want a paddock to last before moving them

Paddocks are 3/4 acres in size. I aim to have 3 paddocks per group and move every 7 days on a 21 day rotation. In the spring and autumn I can graze all silage ground to extend the round.
 
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Paddocks are 3/4 acres in size. I aim to have 3 paddocks per group and move every 7 days on a 21 day rotation. In the spring and autumn I can graze all silage ground to extend the round.
It might take 21 days to complete the cycle but each paddock is only clear of cows fo 14 days.
 
Most seem to have gone for a 3 way system except in spring and autumn. 3 different blocks with 8 hours in each for most of the year and grass by day and silage for the other 16 hours.

Getting the cows in at the start is a problem as they are still acting like a herd. So there will be a good number of cows needing to be brought in until they adjust to realising they can get fresh grass when they come in for milking. So it takes a few weeks to get the majority used to coming in by themselves or with one or two more.
They have to be managed so that each of the 3x8 hour blocks are finished and not very attractive to stay in so they walk back to be milked and get left on to the next fresh block of grass.
The Out the Gap podcast episode 5 has a good discussion with the Mulhalls in Kilkenny about setting up and running their 3 robots.
And Lely had a webinar last night on a farm running 6 robots in Meath. You can register and listen back in the link below but last nights one isn't up yet.
I firmly believe in 20 years the milking parlour will be redundant. Taking a broad commercial view of the thing it seems obvious to invest in automation where possible and utilise human time for management.
 
It might take 21 days to complete the cycle but each paddock is only clear of cows fo 14 days.

Yes that's right the rotation works like that until aftergrass comes back in June. Mid to late may is generally my tightest time for grass but it's workable.
 
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Going round that quick .how do you manage when weather does not answer like the drought last spring and 2 years ago .Some lads last May were parched or is it a ranch you have!!!
 
Going round that quick .how do you manage when weather does not answer like the drought last spring and 2 years ago .Some lads last May were parched or is it a ranch you have!!!

Last may I put out 2 ad lib meal feeders I the field to finish off 60 heavy cattle. Previously I would have brought them back into the shed and finished them there like in 2018. That took the pressure off the other 90 just grazing.
I generally buy and sell a few every week all year round so I can adjust the numbers grazing that way if I have to.
 
I firmly believe in 20 years the milking parlour will be redundant. Taking a broad commercial view of the thing it seems obvious to invest in automation where possible and utilise human time for management.
We’re being drip fed the technology,when someone comes along with the robot arm that fits into an existing parlour pit for attaching clusters all these single box robots will be scrap overnight.
 
We’re being drip fed the technology,when someone comes along with the robot arm that fits into an existing parlour pit for attaching clusters all these single box robots will be


I'd agree with your first point. My own thought would be the hardware will look similar but a single control unit and the ability to add additional units at a fraction of the cost linked to the one controller.
Combine that with robot scrapers and remove the need for outdoor holding yards and walkways and you'll also go a long way on slurry and dirty water reduction
 
We’re being drip fed the technology,when someone comes along with the robot arm that fits into an existing parlour pit for attaching clusters all these single box robots will be scrap overnight.
Wasnt there talks of a crowd building a robotic rotary parlour? i seen boumatic have a new robot that milks 2 cows now
 
We’re being drip fed the technology,when someone comes along with the robot arm that fits into an existing parlour pit for attaching clusters all these single box robots will be scrap overnight.
Im surprised they haven't been released already, the arm is fairly basic technology and surely the scanning mechanics for attachment are not far off that by now?
The cleaning and drawing could still mean a person in the pit for the most basic version but the donkey work of attaching the clusters would be gone.
 
Seen this last night,was only a matter of time,and as scoff says its only a matter of time for a standard parlour
Would be interesting to see how the figures for a small rotary like that one would stack up against a 26/52 say. Still a long way off i'd imagine.
 
Im surprised they haven't been released already, the arm is fairly basic technology and surely the scanning mechanics for attachment are not far off that by now?
The cleaning and drawing could still mean a person in the pit for the most basic version but the donkey work of attaching the clusters would be gone.
I think it's the speed they work at is the problem for a herringbone.
A good person would have a lot of clusters on in the time it takes a robotic arm to do one in a lely box.
You'd almost want to go back to milking stalls. So a cow can be milked then walk out and the arm work up and down the row. Not far off what's done on a robot!

There are some on rotary's.
 
I think a robot will follow the cow around in the field and milk it . It will be like a robot calf except it will save the milk. The cow will not have to walk and will spread it’s own slurry.
I have seen dancing robots on Instagram. They can mow your lawn and hoover the floor so why not milk the cows.
 
I think a robot will follow the cow around in the field and milk it . It will be like a robot calf except it will save the milk. The cow will not have to walk and will spread it’s own slurry.
I have seen dancing robots on Instagram. They can mow your lawn and hoover the floor so why not milk the cows.
There's a idea and a half👍👍. Half a portable tank it can pump into and you bring it back to the main tank.
 
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