Quite a few people have asked me how long the robot construction process will be from start to finish. I was thinking about it, and it’s a baseball season – the regular season plus postseason. Initial construction began when the Brewers were starting their season. The Brewers’ season is done now, but playoffs are going on and then the World Series will wrap up right around the time our last five robots go live.
It’s been six weeks since the second round of robots went online. This startup was a lot easier than the first, even though we had more cows. In the first startup, we activated three milkers. 120 cows transitioned from being milked in the parlor to the robotic milkers. The second startup was five robotic milkers, with 200 cows being transitioned to use them.
The cows are continually growing and learning. Management-wise, we’re doing some minor tweaks. As the cows use the robotic milkers, we are doing a constant evaluation of the small things we can change to optimize their experience and the machine’s efficiency.
Since this was the second round of startups, we knew a lot more of what to expect. One of the biggest challenges during the first startup was figuring out what “candy” to feed the cows to get them to come to the robotic milker. A lot of farms feed the cows pellets when they are being milked, but we use a grain mix. After some trial and error, we found that for our system and herd, grain was the best option. We’re really starting to get the hang of what we need to do.
At the beginning of November, the last set of robots should be ready to go. With two startups under our belt, we’re looking forward to having the third finished.
One of the final robot rooms under construction.