We’ve had the first three robotic milkers up and running for a few weeks now. There is always a huge learning curve when you make such big changes on your farm. There are a lot of kinks to work through, unexpected challenges that arise and new technology to study.
When one part of the farm is under construction, the rest of the farm needs to continue functioning. When we added the first few robots, we were in the middle of cutting hay. We couldn’t stop the fieldwork to solely focus on the robot project. The show must go on!
We have to create new walkways for the cows so the construction crews can work on the parts of the barn where the original walkways were.
As we transition from the milking parlor to the robotic milkers, we have had a lot of help from a lot of people. Members of the community have come to the farm to help us work with the cows as they get used to the new milking environment. For the first three or four days, there was someone from Lely here around the clock making sure the machines were working properly. Employees from our field team have stepped in to help the people in the barns.
A fast and smooth transition is in everyone’s best interest as we shift from one way of milking to another. We wouldn’t be able to do a project like this without all of the help and support that we’ve gotten from everyone along the way. Thank you!