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CONSULT CORNER
Robotic Milking Resources from John Gerbitz

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3 days ago2 min read
MIDWEST DAIRY CHALLENGE GRAB BAG
I spent much of my week at the Dairy Challenge Midwest Regional contest in Brookings, South Dakota. I caught up with old friends, made...
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Feb 63 min read
IT MATTERS MORE IN ROBOTS
What matters more in robots? In some respects, almost everything. Some robot farmers complain that they cannot maintain the consistent...
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Jan 303 min read
HOW LONG WAS SHE DRY?
How long does a cow need to be dry? Everyone has a slightly different idea. Most people agree that a cow should have a dry period between...
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Jan 233 min read
SHE JUST STOPPED COMING TO THE ROBOT
In general, we expect cows to be more persistent in robot barns than in conventional milking. Heifers tend to start their lactations more...
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Jan 162 min read
KEEP THEM COMFORTABLE TO KEEP THEM COMING
Cow comfort gets a lot more attention now than it did in the days when I milked in a tie stall barn. And it should. Research shows that...
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Jan 73 min read
GIVE YOUR HEIFERS A STRONG START
Last summer I participated in a tour at 4 Cubs Farm near Grantsburg, Wisconsin. 4 Cubs is a 16-unit Lely barn. It is owned by Gary, Cris,...
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Jan 23 min read
COW CORNER NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR ROBOTIC MILKING
Social media and news outlets are bursting with ideas for New Year’s resolutions and strategies to keep them. There are tips for...
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Dec 12, 20243 min read
WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK?
There are 3 primary physical limitations on production in robotic milking systems. The first is milking capacity, or the number of...
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Dec 5, 20243 min read
MY NEW "COMPARISON FARM"
Dairy cattle judges talk about the ideal cow they picture in their minds as their standard for comparison. Why not have a standard for...
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Nov 21, 20243 min read
EVALUATING HERD PERFORMANCE BY PARITY AND STAGE OF LACTATION
Robot herds are unique in that there are management changes built into the system for different stages of lactation. In most parlor...
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Nov 14, 20243 min read
ASSIGNING MILKING PERMISSION TO DIFFERENT GROUPS OF COWS
One of the advantages of robotic milking systems is the opportunity to customize a milking schedule according to each cow’s age,...
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Nov 7, 20243 min read
FEED THEM LIKE STEERS
Many sources, including the Cow Corner blog, advocate feeding dairy cows so that 5% of their feed remains to be removed each day before...
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Oct 31, 20243 min read
DRYING OFF COWS IN ROBOTS
Historically, abruptly discontinuing milking was the most common way to start the dry period. There were a few who milked the cow again a...
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Oct 24, 20242 min read
WHICH COWS ARE EARNING THEIR TIME IN THE ROBOT?
I have spent many hours, in many different farm offices, discussing the fate of top producing cows that take too much time in the robot....
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Oct 17, 20243 min read
HOW BORED ARE YOUR COWS?
Recently, customers have been asking about day-to-day and seasonal variation in their robot barns. They want to know why production,...
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Oct 10, 20242 min read
WAYS TO INCREASE MILKINGS/ROBOT
In previous articles, I suggested a general goal of 170 milkings per robot per day and an industry average of 140 milkings. What does it...
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Oct 3, 20243 min read
CURING ALLELOMIMETIC COWS
Many dairy publications will have features in the coming weeks about the new products they saw and the new things they learned at World...
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Sep 26, 20243 min read
MEASURING MILKING ROBOT PERFORMANCE
What is the most important unit of production on your dairy? You may think of production in terms of pounds of milk, dollars of sales, or...
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Sep 19, 20243 min read
PREPARING YOUR TEAM FOR ROBOTIC MILKING
Cows, buildings and equipment get a lot of attention when a farm is getting ready to transition to robotic milking. It’s a big change for...
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Sep 12, 20243 min read
COW BEHAVIOR IMPACTS GROUPING STRATEGIES
I once heard a story of a woman who always cut her roasts in half and cooked them in 2 pans. She never questioned the practice. It was...
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