northeastern Ohio | pigshephard - 9/28/2024 21:18
How does the rotary compare cost/ efficiency wise to a robot milker? ( I don't know a whole lot about milking)
For 150 cows, 3 robots would be cheaper. But when you get to 300+, then the rotary is the winner. I set it up so that we have the ability to go to 900 cows, IF desired.
The rotary will allow us to milk 300 with no hired labor. Robots could do the same but the cost would be higher. I looked at many robot and rotary operations before my decision. The biggest factor for me was time. Right now, I can have all my cows milked in an hour. I saw a lot of robot guys with long fetch lists. One guy with 180 cows had to fetch 25 cows per day to bring them to the robot to be milked. That was the worst. He was also having some robot problems where milk was going down the drain instead of in the tank and cows were not being fully milked out.
Cleaning and maintenance on the robots seemed to be a full time job for one guy on most of the robot farms. I feel like I have more freedom with the rotary. Milk the cows at 5 am and then I have the rest of the day for crops or family. Milk the cows at 5 pm and then go home for dinner. |
Finally got a professional video of our internal rotary parlor
