Robotic Milking Could Be the Key to Your Dairy’s Expansion

Growing your business is top of mind for most dairy producers with expansion of herds and facilities under heavy consideration. For many dairy farmers with both large and small herds, robots are becoming the solution.

Many dairies across North America were originally built with a milking center connected to a freestall housing facility. They have since expanded the size and number of barns and increased the number of cows to the maximum capacity of the milking center. Now that the existing facility is maxed out, robots present a great solution for continued expansion.

Why add robots?
Adding a new robotic facility to your existing dairy, whether it’s on the same site or another site close by, could help reduce the pressure on the existing facility. Here’s what robots could add to your dairy:

• Expand your dairy and add more units as you desire.
• Reduce your upfront cost compared to a large rotary or line parlor facility designed for future herd size.
• Transition away from the current setup in a way that works for you.
• Address growing pains and prepare dairy management to succeed in a new frontier with a gradual transition.

Where to start?
There are countless considerations when converting to a robotic facility, including management style, nutrition options and many others, but cow comfort and cow flow during and after the construction process needs to be a top priority.

In the example shown here, an existing 3,500-cow (plus or minus) facility has been converted into a robotic facility by adding lean-to structures and new, centralized milk house facilities. The following considerations were made when designing the robotic expansion of this dairy:

• Built robot rooms to the outside of each existing group of cows, allowing full access to the existing cow transfer lanes. The addition of the robots does not interfere with the existing manure-handling and ventilation systems.
• Added new milk houses with surrounding equipment rooms, utility rooms and herd offices. The location is designed central to 24 robots to maximize efficiency for milk transport to the pick-up point and, more importantly, the ability to effectively clean the milk system.
• Created remote equipment rooms adjacent to robots, where needed, in order to accommodate hot water systems, vacuum equipment, etc. as well as space for teat dips and cleaning chemicals.

Whether reducing labor, increasing production or just replacing aging equipment have you thinking about a robotic solution, remember to take careful consideration in the design of your facility. Even the best robotic equipment in the world will not be able to show its potential if the cows are not able to flow through it easily and comfortably.

Fill out the form below to learn how adding robotic milking systems to your dairy could help you expand your operation.

1. Lean-to addition with equipment room for robots
2. New structure between existing barns with robot rooms, milk house, equipment, office etc.
3. Existing transfer lanes to remain in place
4. Existing milking center
5. One-way gates can be added to convert cow flow from free-traffic to modified-guided cow flow
6. Self-locking headgates can be added for handling cows at the feed table
7. Typical four-row freestall barn
8. Equipment room
9. Pre-selection gate (guided traffic)
10. Post-sort gate (guided or free traffic)
11. Commitment pen in guided traffic
12. Temporary fetch pen in free traffic
13. Robots installed in lean-to addition with little interruption to daily routines during construction
14. Typical six-row freestall barn
15. Existing special-needs facility can continue being used
    

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