Just at this point we start our start-up first day milking service!  In the Netherlands DeLaval sends us to all the starts-up. As well you as your cows have to learn a very new system. It can be therefore a “stressing” while!

We come to help these first days and support the farmers in this busy time literally with “Word and Deed”. What to you as farmer is new and strange, is for us daily work. Several start-up milkers are VMS users themselves and know what support these days means. Through our years of experience and 1000 VMS ses further, we know how important it is to keep rest in the barn, to guide the cows calm in the robot and to explain the farmer dosed the system to get confident to the VMS.
Rest is very important, both for the farmer and the cow!
The start-up day appears in most cases a much more relaxed day to take place then expected:
“It was just a nice day!”

This intensive supervision can be organized for the first day ≈ 22 hours and in the second night there is one of these milking service ≈ 10 hours on your business. So the farmers themselves have a few nights to sleep while the cows learn the first steps of their new routine.
Mostly the days before were already stressfull also having a bit more rest and sleep ensures a smoother start-up

And he is much fitter for to take in the information and take over the lead as soon as possible.
But the amount of help is to your choice.

This artikel about our Start up Milking service: “Einmelkservice” is written in the German Breeders Magazine “Milchrind”

 

The benefits of our coaching start in brief:

* Professional help (word and deed)
* Very intensive counseling (1 day and 2 nights)
* Faster habituation, because known earlier with system
* Fewer hours for technicians who can focus on their part
* Farmer is released, less stress and more confidence
* Customer earlier satisfied, also because “after Sales” Management

Also read the Tips on start-up and renovations:

November 2013:

Tips before Startup with VMS

• Start up with a maximum of 50-55 cows per VMS. Cows as well as the farmer himself must learn something new, starting with the robot full makes it much heavier. When the cows have all calved at least once, you may expand that number carefully.
  Because of higher capacity on VMS V300 it could be 5 – 10  cows more.
• Plan the milking robot(s) in a place where the cows now also like to stay.
• In the last period you are milking in the milking parlour, pre-treat per cow and then connect, so do not pre-treat 3 – 5 cows and then connect one after the other.
• Milk the last morning as early as possible, and when half the cows have been milked, preferably lock them up near the robot so that we can start with these cows, and then milk the second half of the cows and lock them up elsewhere.
• It is important that when you change the ration, for example from full TMR, that in the weeks beforehand are slowly being phased out and the cows learn to eat and appreciate food from concentrate.
• Structural feed is very important for the health and especially activity of the cow.
  So with sufficient structure in ration, the cow learns faster!
  But also around the start-up, eating and drinking is sometimes disrupted or the cow also eats concentrate from the previous cow because she was frightened.
  Then a little extra structure around startup can accommodate this.
• All of the cows need to be hoof trimmed a month in advance. If you have a new stall or new concrete then it is recommended to trim 3 months in advance. Otherwise the trimmed hoofs are too thin and that causes problems.
• Even though we say that with DeLaval VMS can milk “every cow”, we still advise to prematurely say farewell to the cows that have no chance. These cows include the structural SCC, cows with bad legs that you have to walk and chase after now already. Also cows that have the rear teats in the ligaments are also difficult. As for the rest, you know your cows the best.
• Shave utter and tails a few days before starting.
• Place a few oneway gates in the old situation, old stable or in the young cattle shed, as they will be in the new situation.
  Then they can get used to it.
• Make sure that when the start-up day comes you have no other attention seeking problems. The mechanic and the (in Holland and Germany)  special  Start-up team have enough to explain. It would be a pity if you don’t remember any of it.
  This makes as well the cows as Farmer less stressful and then goes the day a lot easier and learns the farmer also more.

  This al has to make that the farmers enjoyed the start-up day!

• Provide an adequate amount of gates which bring a lot of peacefulness (if setup right) during the startup. Feedfirst needs a few gates less, color markers can be useful here.
• Ask a few extra people to help ensure that the cows are milked often enough per day for ≈ the first two weeks after start-up until they understand it themselves.