Manure plate.

More and more often we see that a stainless steel container has been neatly placed around the manure plate behind the VMS.
This looks clean and tidy.

However, it is then more difficult to check whether the manure plate is still doing its job properly, you cannot see whether the manure plate is moving properly when a cow is in the VMS.

Especially on farms with VMS Classics, we do not have to explain how important the proper functioning of the manure plate is. But even with the V300 it still has a function.

So make sure every day that the manure plate moves well, the spring still does its job, the rods are straight  and the manure plate is not weighed down by manure. These are all reasons why he moves less, the cow suffers from the manure plate and it is more difficult for the robot to connect.

Milking speed per bull.

Livestock improvement organizations not only want to know the production of the daughters of their bulls, but also ask about milking speed, behaviour, etc. .

Now this can easily be found in DelPro, but per cow and not per father.
DelPro has many lists and almost anything can be made for wishes or clear overviews tailored to your company.

We have also made a list to view the milking speed of the offspring per bull. With possibly incomplete milkings, who kicks off most often, etc.
But for those who milk with VMS Classic the Performance Index is also included .
That is a figure that indicates how quickly the cow is connected.
(See previous Performance Index Tip)

A list with information per bull is especially interesting when there are more daughters of the same bull.

And it is of course important that the fathers are entered in DelPro!

Do you want this list?
Just an email to harry@harrytuinier.nl

Start grazing.

Starting early in the spring is especially important when combining robotic milking and grazing.
And not the amount of grass but the carrying capacity of the soil should be decisive.
If there is not much grass yet, this mainly means that the cows learn the cycle faster:
barn – milking robot – pasture – barn / feeding fence – milking robot – pasture – and so on.

Three steps up and three steps down.

Do you have construction or renovation plans?

Nowadays, when the robot place is constructed, a pit is often made near the robot. This is very useful when you want to do something with the cow and the udder.
Obviously no treatments that cause painful and bad memories for the cow of the robot visit.
Then three steps down is a nice size to be able to reach everything.

For the office space, three steps up is very pleasant.
When the office is in a good place, you have a beautiful view over the cows and “the stable!”(Being able to look over the robot into the stable is often an extra three steps higher).

Is the milk permission still good?

The automatic milking permission also needs to be adjusted from time to time, for example if the production per cow or the number of cows per robot has increased.

Is the milking permission still good and do all normal cows have a check mark?
You can check whether they are all checked by selecting all cows in the status screen via Contrl + A and then choosing VMS Animal data and checking the 2nd  tab Milk permission to see if they are all checked. Special cows may have a special (different) attitude.

You can check whether the Automatic Milk Permission is correct by sorting on expected milk yield in the Status screen and then checking which cows currently have and which do not have milk permission? Does this fit your plan?
And don’t too many cows have milk permission so that the cows that don’t come smoothly also have to wait for cows that only just get milk permission again with smaller milk yields and get  demotivated by these cows and so bring down the capacity of the robots and your cows?

It is normal when no more than 25% of the cows have permission to milk.