Dairy producers say robotic milkers work for them
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/22/2010 9:06 AM
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ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — Art Johansen wouldn't change a thing about his robotic milker purchase and barn retrofit.
The Underwood dairyman has used the robotic system for about a year.
During an Upper Midwest Dairy Industry Association tour of his facility last week, Johansen admitted that, like most dairymen, he lost money when milk prices plunged last year. However, he said he the robotic milker helped reduce the deficit.
The robotics, he told the group, are an investment. He's realizing a cost savings in labor by dropping a full- and half-time position and his cows are milking a little more.
He milks 100 cows and has plans to add another 10.
Greg Blaine of Little Falls echoed Johansen's comments when they joined robotic equipment manufacturers for a panel discussion at UMDIA's Alexandria meeting.
Blaine milks 65 cows and has a robotic milker. Johansen has two. Both have retrofitted existing barns for the robotic systems and have added an observation area, bulk tank area and office.
The first weeks after installation were busy while cows adjusted to the robot, Johansen said.
Both say there are always some cows that don't go to the robot for regular milking. A computer chip on each cow signals the machine which cows haven't been milked and milking intervals. Johansen doesn't mind moving those cows toward the robots. It gives him another chance to walk through the herd.
"If I would go into the free-stall when we had the parlor, all the cows would get up," Johansen said. "Now the cows are so docile with this system, I can walk in the free-stall barn and pick out the cow I need and move her to the robot without having the whole herd get up."
Cow comfort and health were key in Blaine's decision to install a robotic milker.
"It was almost like they were pet cows," Blaine said. "They were not intimidated by humans because they were no longer being moved as a group to a milking. When we were milking in our parlor, we would physically have to gather cows and move them to another barn and holding area. In the robotic environment, there is none of that. They go lay down when they want and get milked when they want. Their clock tells them when they should do that."
The producers say they can spend more time with family and attend church and school functions. They aren't tied to a twice- or three-times-a-day milking schedule.
Blaine is often asked what's the magic herd size to make robotic milking successful. The only number that's pertinent, he says, is 60 to 70 cows per robot.
"However many robots you have, you have to have that many cows per unit," he said. "If you have 250 cows, you have four robots. There is no such thing as a part-time robot."
But can a 60-cow dairy support the cost of one robot?
"Sure," answered Blaine. "That's also part of the discussion that needs to take place in the planning process ... You don't just go out and buy a new combine before you know how much it is and if you have enough acres to support the combine."
Blaine said it's important to discuss the possibilities with a team of professionals. The team can include the banker, accountant, farm business management or manager outside the farm.
"You need to sit down and crunch those numbers to see how it works," he said. "You need to do that as much with robotics as you do when buying any piece of equipment."
Blaine and his wife, Michelle, have a 60-stall free-stall barn they built in 1996. They were milking in a double-six flat parlor in an older barn and were moving the cows to the parlor twice a day.
Both Johansen and Blaine toured farms using robotics and discussed the systems with others before making the investment.
"We were comfortable we were making the right decision for us," Blaine said. "We researched a lot. It was not a snap decision. We wanted to literally see how this worked in the milking environment. When we saw the cows in their environment, we knew that's what we wanted. "
Blaine says he has no regrets about the robotic milking system.
"I am very pro-robotic dairy," he said. "I am not out there trying to sell these, but I believe in the technology. I have seen what it's done for myself. I didn't consider myself an elite dairyman, but robotics have helped me be a better dairyman in all aspects of managing dairy cows and it's helped me expand my horizons. And its been fun along the way."