ESSENTIAL COMMUNICATON FOR SUCCESSFUL ROBOTIC MILKING

“Nothing else matters until we get their buy in and trust.” Brandon Thesing, of Select Sires Member Coop made that statement during a panel discussion at the Dairy Cattle Reproductive Council annual meeting. He was talking about customers learning to use cow monitoring systems. His statement is just as true for successful communication with any new dairy farm technology – including robotic milking. The panel included Amit Golan – Afimilk, Steven Pavelski – Nedap, Caio Gamarra – Merck, and Thesing. The group shared insights about setting expectations, ongoing training, and overcoming obstacles, with dairy technology.

Setting Expectations

Setting expectations involves understanding the equipment, and being realistic about its limitations. But it also involves understanding the farm’s goals and limitations. It may involve breaking some habits. A robotic milking example is a slick bunk habit, which will interfere

with cow flow, and the whole team will need to understand this. It’s easier to change habits before startup than after. Many farms have at least one skeptic who is convinced the technology will not work, and might even hope it will fail. The skeptics are important, because they can tell you what it will take to validate the performance of the new technology. Maybe that is measured in terms of production, labor savings, cow health, or reliability. Skeptics can help you focus on what the system needs to do for them, to be called a success.

Ongoing Training

I have tried to teach people to use robotic milking software during a startup. Usually they are overtired, overworked, and overwhelmed. They have more important priorities than learning how to look up historic robot pellet consumption. Timing is everything. The trainer and the trainee need to focus on only the essentials before and during startup, and build on those essentials as curiosity and comfort level increase. Everything becomes more meaningful after startup, with real data in the computer, and real questions to be answered. There needs to be a plan to follow-up on a regularly scheduled basis, to grow the knowledge and increase the comfort level.

Overcoming Obstacles

There will be problems. There may be mechanical problems related to conditions that were unforeseen during the installation. There may be cow behavior problems that are just a result of cows being cows. The expectations and goals for the system may change over time. And then, there is always procedural drift. The solutions begin with communication. Communication brings everyone together to understand the problem. From there, move to the data to measure the problem, and define the solution. Determine when the problem started. Investigate what changed, and what stayed the same, when the problem started, or as it became worse. Finally, take steps to prevent the problem from happening again. There is always a temptation to change everything immediately, to make sure the problem is solved – now. Resist that temptation. Change one thing at a time, observe the results, and then take the next step.

Cow Corner is built on years of dairy industry experience, and we use that experience to understand each farm, and make technology work better on every farm. We know it all starts with earning your buy-in and trust. Get us involved today, to help you decide whether robotic milking is a fit for your farm, navigate the design and startup process, or monitor and improve your ongoing robotic dairy.