john28855

With 36 robots, Homestead Dairy of Plymouth, Indiana is one of the larger robotic dairies in the United States. It is owned by Brian Houin and his extended family. Many large robotic dairies have several barns with 6 to 8 robots per barn. At Homestead, all of the robots are under one roof – an 8 ½ acre roof.

Fetching too many cows makes robots less available for cows to milk voluntarily, and can lead to a fetching habit. The fetching routine should include fresh heifers, fresh cows, recently moved cows, cows that need motivation, and overdue cows. If your barn is flowing well, you might not have any cows in one or more of those groups.

A bin full of the wrong robot feed is like that. Once the feed is in the bin you either feed it out or find a way to divert it for another use. The larger the load, the bigger the problem. I have had calls from customers who filled a bin with a “better buy” which slowed cow traffic in a matter of days. How do you choose the right robot feed, and what can you do to minimize the impact of the transition.