IS A FRESH COW PEN RIGHT FOR YOUR ROBOTIC DAIRY?

There is growing interest in using dedicated fresh pens on robotic dairies. For some dairies this is a pen with one robot, constructed specifically for fresh cows or special needs cows. For others it is an existing pen, repurposed as a fresh pen. Fresh pens can allow more robot time for fresh cows. They can also improve labor efficiency by concentrating the training and monitoring of fresh cows in one place. This also means fresh cow training and monitoring will not interfere with cow flow in the other pens. On the other hand, a pen move will be required. Cows will have to adjust to a new pen and a new robot when they leave the fresh pen. A dedicated fresh pen should be sized to hold and milk less than 20% of your herd because that’s the portion of your herd that is likely to be fresh at any given time. The actual size will depend on how long you keep cows in the fresh pen. I have been helping a Cow Corner customer create a fresh pen during the last 6 months.

Want to read more?

Subscribe to cow-corner.co to keep reading this exclusive post.

Subscribe Now