This is another of the basic robotic milking questions that comes up all the time. Like many basic robotic milking questions, the answer is, it depends. It depends on the level of production per cow, because production per cow directly affects how many times a cow needs to be milked and how long it takes to milk her. It depends on whether inefficient cows are milked in the robots, moved to a parlor, or removed from the herd. It depends on how long the barn has been running. Capacity changes as cows learn, people learn, systems are refined, and the composition of the herd changes to robot adapted cows. It depends on the goals of the operator. Will the barn run at full capacity all the time or at a slower pace that allows more flexibility for management routines? Most robot barns have between 45 and 75 cows per robot.
I prefer to look at this in terms of milk production per robot. Production per robot ultimately determines the productive capacity of the farm. 6,000 pounds per robot will almost always be more profitable than 5,000 pounds per robot. Low-cost production models or specialized markets may create outliers. Hypothetically, 6,000 pounds per robot can come from 60 cows milking 100 pounds or 75 cows producing 80 pounds. In general, the lower producing herd will require less milkings per cow and milking duration will be shorter. The total milking time and the total number of milkings to achieve 6,000 pounds will be similar.
In either scenario, it comes down to 2 questions. First, how can we get the most milkings per robot? Second, how can we get the optimum milk per milking? The answers to these questions are closely related. Each depends on cow, management, and machine factors. I will explore each of these in more detail in the next few newsletters. Please make sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss them. Subscribe at www.cow-corner.co.
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