Large Herds Share the Big Benefits of Switching to Robotic Milking

Reid-Rau Dairy says that the farm did their research with improved cow comfort being a priority and a robotic, L-shaped free flow milk system checked all the boxes.
Reid-Rau Dairy says that the farm did their research with improved cow comfort being a priority and a robotic, L-shaped free flow milk system checked all the boxes.
(Fred Rau Dairy )

Aimed at doing better and gaining efficiency on their operations, producers are determining how they want to milk their cows in the future, and larger herds have turned to robotic milking. Out west, Mitch Moorlag, general manager of Edaleen Dairy in Lynden, Wash., said there were multiple reasons why they switched from conventional to robotic milking. 

“First, our conventional parlor was aging and costing us a fair amount of both time and money in repairs,” he says. “Second, labor was becoming more and more difficult to find and retain a milking staff. With constantly having to hire and train new employees, we couldn’t be 100% confident that operations in the parlor were being done exactly as we wanted them to be done every single time. With robotic milking systems, every single cow is cleaned, prepped and milked the correct way every single time she comes through to get milked.”

Continually Evolve

Today, 1,100 Holstein and Jersey cows are milked with 20 DeLaval V300 robots at Edaleen Dairy. Before, the herd was milked in a double-32 parallel parlor. The transition from the first day of construction to being fully robotic took a little over two years for Edaleen Dairy, as they retrofitted their barns to incorporate robot rooms.

Washington dairy

“We also had some new construction for milk houses and cleaning rooms that had to be completed,” Moorlag explains. 

Shonda Reid-Rau with Fred Rau Dairy in Fresno, Calif., concurs with Moorlag, saying farms must continually evolve. 

“Dairy technology has continued to evolve for us, which was at one time ‘state of the art’ but now at best ‘museum quality,’” she says. “With changes in labor laws, agricultural exemptions, and reduced workforce availability, dairies had to adapt or die.”

Reid-Rau shares that the farm did their research with improved cow comfort being a priority and a robotic, L-shaped free flow milk system checked all the boxes.

“After additional research, visiting smaller robotic producers, and looking at technology options, the Lely Astronaut A5 was the logical choice,” she says. “We also had a high level of confidence in our local Lely dealer, Avila Dairy Equipment in Hanford.” 

robotic barn

Starting with a flat 32-stall barn in 1953, Fred Rau Dairy has seen several expansions and additions since. Today, the herd of 1,400 cows is milked by one of 24 robots. Their transition from conventional to robotic began during the pandemic, which caused several challenges for the family.

“We built during the toughest possible time. Delays in materials, a shortage of construction workers and competition for concrete with California High-Speed Rail caused significant delays in the project,” Reid-Rau says, explaining that based on recommendations from Lely, they started six robots at a time with the completion of the last six being commissioned in August 2022.

According to Reid-Rau, the learning curve to transitioning is steep, but shared by the last installment, they figured it out.

“Transitioning open dry lot corrals to a free stall barn was interesting, but we learned what we needed to do and quickly established a routine,” she says. “Milking flat barn cows for the first time in a robot requires patience and calmness. They have to be ‘guided’ into the robot through a series of push gates.”

One piece of technology that she highly suggests is the cow locator GPS system which maps where a cow is within a 10' accuracy, in each of their two-125,000 square-foot freestall robotic barns.

“This is and has been an incredible labor and time-saving device,” she says.

Real Benefits

Moorlag says they have been pleased with the outcome of switching from conventional to robotic milking.

“All of our cows are now completely on their own schedules. The number of cows that we need to go fetch is minimal and milk production per cow has increased,” he says, sharing they have been able to focus more of their labor efforts on animal husbandry and care instead of milking, which has resulted in lower SCC and reduced lameness.

Reid-Rau also says that the overall cow comfort and quietness of the robotic operation was immediately apparent.

“In a voluntary milk system like ours, cows live where they milk, and milk when they need to. Our two-time-per-day conventional dairy went to nearly 3x immediately as sophisticated algorithms map production of each cow and determine milking intervals that are individualized for each cow,” she says. “The outcome from this project exceeded our expectations and boils down to improved milk quality, vastly improved herd health, improved cow comfort and an environmentally friendly approach to sustainable dairying.”

Edaleen Dairy has completely shut down its old conventional parlor, while Fred Rau Dairy is in the process of phasing theirs out. 

“We milk cows conventionally that haven't taken to the robots and our fresh cows to collect colostrum,” Reid-Rau says. “We do continually retry our new 2-year-olds, and most have adjusted to the robot after the second training session.”

Moorlag underscores that switching to a fully robotic milking system doesn’t mean you put it in and walk away. He says there are very specific things you need to check and monitor on your robots daily.

“I would add that it is essential to have a dealer who supports you and is there for assistance when you need it,” he says. “For us, our local DeLaval dealer has been phenomenal in helping us navigate our way through this process and continues to support us.”

Both farms suggest visiting robotic dairies, even if they are smaller, to learn more about the transition as well as the overall benefits seen switching from conventi

 

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