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.

Cow behavior in the barn.

A little reflection in the new year. We all know this, but checking whether it really works is sometimes good. Grab 4 moments of the day for this check.

If 14 hours a day lying down is optimal for a cow, then at least half and preferably 60% of the cows should lie down. And also important: 60% have to ruminate.

So 60% of the cows have to lie down, 10% walk near or around the VMS and 30% are at the feed fence or walk with a goal.
Pay particular attention to whether cows hang around, stand in the layingboxes for a long time and, for example, seem reluctant to lie down or go to a certain part of the barn or avoid to go along a narrow path or walking past a dominant cow .

How much influence do the feeding moments or “cow control” moments, walking between the cows, have on this distribution? Does it remain quiet in the stable !
And of course box comfort, sprinkle (sawdust) moments, walkways, ….
Then you have already measured a large number of Cow Signals!

Clean separation cans.

It is sometimes an annoyance when you don’t need a few separation cans for a while that they still get dirty and often smell.

Get in the habit of cleaning the jugs that are not being used and simply place them upside down between or next to them. Also rotate these jugs so that they do not become or remain “chronically” dirty.

DeLaval does the same with the teat cups and pre-treatment cup. After each milking upside down and rinse. Even after cleaning, they hang upside down so that dirt or milk residues as little as possible can mean something.