Where is the USB Stick with Backup?

Recently there was a fire on a farm.
Office and engine room completely burned out.

The farmer had regularly changed USB stick with backup and placed it in a cupboard in the office ….
That was already very neat, but now also burned.

All data from backup, cow information, teat positions, … gone!

Make sure you regularly put a current backup on a stick, but also store it in a different place! (Tip of the Month – April 2012)

And pay attention to the Tips for the winter!

This site has also paid attention to this.
(Tip of the Month – December 2010 and January 2012)
A heating element is important.
And in any case make sure that no or minimal cleaning is required at night.
Many milkings, possibly earlier milk permission, and minimum rinses.
So milk the separation cows earlier and later, and prevent cold (east) wind / air under VMS.
Where we are happy with a lot of air circulation in the VMS space on summer days, we are not like that on freezing days ..

What is needed for the highest daily production per VMS.

We often hear interesting stories about the average daily production of a milking robot.
Sometimes 1500 liters per day, sometimes more than 2000, some regularly reach 2500 liters and a few are milking even more than 3000 liters per robot per day.

What do you think is necessary and important to achieve a high production per milking robot?
Here I would like to add experiences and practical tips from you, so I hope for responses from you:

If this is successful, I would also like to make a list with more tips from you, for example about increasing the number of visits to the milking robot, keeping the somatic cell count low, …

Some examples of mine what is needed for high daily productions per VMS:

• High-yielding livestock, high persistence
• High quality roughage.
• Pay extra attention that newly calved heifers learn to visit the VMS soon after calving and are given time / space for this.
• Many cows with 2+ lactations

It is therefore the intention that this list is getting longer.
I would like to add your practical tips and experiences to this!

Added by you:

• Punctually claw care policy (for dry period and after negative energy balance period) by the skilled person.
• Short interval between calves
• Reward high-yielding cows (concentrate, space, …)
• Often push feed, also at night
• Generous, comfortable lying places

Do not let dry cows eat the wrong ration.

Make sure that the dry cows at the feeding fence cannot eat the feed of the lactating cows.
Compared to the lactating cows, the dry cows need a ration with less energy but with enough protein, and a lot structure plus the for them necessary minerals, vitamins, and exercise!

That is a different ration than that of the lactating cows.

So stop feeding about two eating places earlier in the vicinity of the dry cows The fattest cows are already ready when you come near with the feed for the lactating cows.

Make sure that they cannot eat the richer ration, which is good for the lactating cows!

Every newly born heifer calf is a potential 100,000 liter cow….

That sounds like someone is saying “dream on”.
Because there are a lot of links in the chain along the way that can break too soon.
Can you identify weak links within your company?
Rearing – housing – first year – start of first lactation – perhaps too few cows calving for the third time – condition – claws – nutrition – housing / cow comfort.
Good rearing produces well-developed heifers that can calve at 22-24 months of age.
That is where the basis lies.

We want to take good care of the old cows. But these have also been young.
And to get old cows we have to take good care of the young stock and the younger cows by giving them plenty of space.

Go through the different stages, links, at your farm with a (feed) advisor, veterinarian.

Opportunities for cows that are difficult to attach the teatcups.

Incomplete milking is always annoying! Finding the teats with difficulty not only results in loss of time but also annoyance, both for the farmer and for the cow.
On top of that, the risk of udder infections also increases.

Several Tips have already been written about incomplete milkings. With the VMS Classic we aim for a percentage of incomplete milkings of less than 5%. With the VMS V300 we believe that this percentage should be below 2%.

What is well known is that you should keep the camera clean, even in the top corners, having no space on the arm and should neatly connect the teat in the middle of the cup.

In the lists, under “Milking Info”, the list “Milking performance” is included. By sorting on incomplete milkings, the penultimate column, you can see exactly which cows have incomplete milkings most often.

Over the years I have compiled a list of 14 points for the VMS Classic, and 9 points for the VMS V300 that can help assess and possibly use the settings of the individual cow to try for better attach in the future.

This is often issued during company visits, if you do not have it (anymore), or if you want an update, just send an email and I will send it to you.

Please state for which type of VMS you’d like to receive these points.