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Tips from 2013

December 2013:

As quick as possible after calving to the VMS

It is important that not only heifers but also older cows are milked as soon as possible after they have given birth.
The heifers feel as if they’re in trance after giving birth and will believe that they should be milked and all around belongs to it as well. Furthermore, the hormones will work quicker (which are needed for milk let-down and recovery from the calving, e.g. to let the uterus to shrink faster). It doesn’t seem to be pleasant but it’s actually very healthy. And the production is stimulated to start up. If it’s possible, these cows should be milked 3 times a day for the first few days.
The longer the heifer, but also the older cow, is not milked the harder the gets udder, the more painful and the more difficult milking empty the next time milking.  It’s not always possible milking often  but very important.

It’s also very important for udder edema etc..
You can compare it yourself to procrastinating about going to the dentist. If you keep procrastinating, it will be even more painful and you won’t want to go to the dentist. If you’re on time and you don’t experience any pain than you will go also earlier the next time.
The cow will also get a reward in the form of some concentrate.

This is why it is also very important having an easy overview to see where the fresh cows are in de herd! (Look at Tip of the Month from August 2013)

 

November 2013:

Tips before Startup with VMS

Recently a lot of new stalls have been built. It is good to see that many farmers have chosen for automatic milking.

At DeLaval you almost always get an “Integration book” or handout. The handout contains different tips for both the farmers as well as the technicians. Some useful tips for the farmer are:

– Begin 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.

– It is important that when you change the ration, for example 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!

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.

– 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.

– 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.

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!

 

October:

Questions about possibilities, skills with VMS

Currently I visit more at dairies that work with the VMS of DeLaval for several years now, through the Vitality package and also through direct requests. These visits are useful because the dairyman doesn’t meet a lot of “broad-based sparring partners” on the overall herd management. You can accomplish a lot with the combination of a milking robot and a computer, this is a fact. Knowing that not everything is being used is also a fact.
A milking robot can’t do everything, it’s a machine and not a human being.

It also occurs that a dairyman, sometimes for years, just thinks that this is something he just has to deal with, but it doesn’t have to be that way!

What do you run into occasionally and what are your most frequent questions about VMS milking and its possibilities or impossibilities?

=> Put these questions on mail to harry@harrytuinier.nl

You have paid for the program, so you can also use it!

 

September:

Preventing too many three tits

By robot milking cows become easier a 3 teats milkers after they are too often not completely milked. For example kicking the teat cup off or slowly milking. When this happens oftener, the computer doesn’t recognize it as a problem. The computer just thinks this cow is not giving more milk, so the computer doesn’t give you a warning that the cow hasn’t been completely milked. For that to happen, the cow must give less than 50% of the expected yield. If that doesn’t quite reach the expected 50% the computer won’t give a warning.

When you see that a cow has not been completely milked yet and it is not named by the computer as incomplete, make sure that the cow is completely milked in your presence. Then you might be able to find the cause of it and you can make sure the computer learns again  how much milk the cow should give.

Is kicking off the teat cups mostly the cause: see if you can change the teat cleaning, the type of teat dip (for softer teats), feed slower, pretreat more carefully or by increasing the time settings for “incomplete milking”  (the cow then has a limp udder and hasn’t saved a lot of feed so she will be quicker irritated) or by simply turning that time setting off if the conductivity of the cow can have it.

Is the cow milking too slowly the cause, then go to the “Animal Card” > “VMS Settings” > “Configurations” and check the “Base take-off decision on lower flow”. You can also use the “Extended pre-milking time”. Mostly better works a “Clean Twice” Teat cleaning and use by “Feeding” the option of “consumption rate” to spread the concentrate over a longer time of her VMS visit. The cow will then be more inclined to give good milk.

Incompletely milked cows are also often  cows with hoof problems, they aren’t milking very relaxed, not standing square and they are inclined to rub their painful hoof (mortellaro?) against the teat cup.

 

August:

Check activity fresh cows

Very important for a good start and lactation after calving is the healthiness of the cows, especially the first days after. For a good start and a good lactation, just the fitness of the cows is very important, especially the first days after calving.

A lot happens with the cow, she has just calved so she’s weaker, ration changes, group changes, which reorders the hierarchy in the herd. If she is going to give a lot of milk, her need for energy is higher.

In robotic milking the cow is milked more often, which can cause the milk yield to increase extra. This makes this period extra exciting.

To keep a close eye on the cows activity, there are dairymen who put a fluorescent colored halter around the cows neck for the first 10 days. You can then easily see where the cow is and if she is active enough, goes to the feeding barrier frequently, etcetera.

If you follow the cow activity closely, then choices that are made around topics such as concentrate or treatments, can be made much earlier.

In this period, the use of painkillers sometimes can cause a cow, especially a heifer, to go to the feeding barrier more often which makes her reach and pass the “dead center point” quicker, so that she can leave it behind her faster.

 

July:

Concentrate build up after calving

During my dairy visits I now often leave a report behind about concentrate buildup after calving.

It’s evident that this is a very important issue.

The best results are achieved when you fill in the report with a nutritionist who knows the qualities of your forage but who also knows the characteristics of the concentrate you’re using.

How this has to be used is what I spend much time on because guiding cows through their transitionperiod takes skills, is very profitable and expands the lifespan of the cows.

For cows that have no problem calving and who keep showing up at the feeding barrier afterwards, concentrate build-up isn’t difficult and a lot of usable knowledge is already available.

We keep in mind that cows that are about to calve eat less forage than usual but that she will eat more and more each day in the oncoming weeks. A cow and her rumen can than handle more concentrate without is having to get worried about rumen acidification, laminitis or a negative energy balance, etcetera. (see tip October 2010).

There are also cows that for example have calved too heavy, or who, for some reason, are too skinny at the start of the lactation, or who can’t walk comfortable, etcetera. Not being dried off in a good condition but certainly not having calved in a good condition. When these cows visit the feeding barrier insufficiently, then these are the cows where we would like to build up the concentrate less fast and where we certainly should be more careful with “faster” (grain) or high protein concentrates.

With heifers we are very careful with these concentrates, because, apart from giving milk, they still need to grow. (Having 10.000 kilograms of milk in 1 year is fun, but a lifelong production of 100.000 is better ;-))

On the list given, these cows are called “the difficult start” group. These are all the cows of which you think that the forage intake is minimal, the first days or weeks after calving. It is also possible that some fat cows are just too lazy or that they calved with edema or fat so they visit the feeding barrier not enough (too little structure compared to the energy in the dry-off time?).

I have made a category “Too fat and dominant” and with this we mean the dominant cows:  these are the cows that take charge right away after calving, they push other cows away and usually they are on high production very fast after calving. You can build up concentrate with these cows faster than with other cows. Otherwise, these cows will lose productiveness after 40 days.

Of course, the goal is to get all of the cows back into the “healthy category”. Sadly, we don’t always have our livestock under control. But providing proportionally more structure instead of energy, more space to walk, to lie down and to move, manicured claws, correct Ca / P ratio and correct Cations / Anions during the dry-off period, will take many cows in the desired section.

Very complicated! Fortunately, with DeLaval you will have the possibility to easily make your own adjustments if things have not been going according to the directions…. Good Luck!

 

June :

Healthy Hoofs:

Hoof disorders are still one of on the largest expenses of a dairy. When milking a cow with a milkingrobot this is even more obvious because a cow must then independently think how many times she’ll have to go to the VMS and how often she goes to the feeding fence and drinking trough. Limiting because off claws will cost a lot of milk and lifespan!

Add to that fact that a crippled cow with never stand still in the VMS which makes it harder to align and will have to spend more of her time in the VMS. The farmer as well as the cow aren’t happy with that!

Important measures:

Hooftrimming:  cows in different lactation stadiums, before dry-off time and at mid lactation. This should ensure that the cow walks as balanced as possible and to minimize cracks and crevices around the claws, because bacteria like Mortellaro e.g. love it! (See Tipp okt. 2011)

Places to lay: adequate rest so that the fat pad between flesh and hoof muscle is spared and the cow therefore will walk more resilient, more comfortable and thus longer. This is important for the blood circulation (read: purge) of course, special for the legs and the udder or injuries.

A cow needs to lay down, relaxed, on average 12-14 hours per day.

Foot bath: would be greatly recommended if you have the possibilities of offering this on a regular base to your animals

Smooth exercise lanes or large passing options: because of white lane defects

Exercise lanes dry and “clean”: having a scraper system in place that does not transfer bacteria back and forth from the milking cows to heifers/calves

Rubber on the floor: especially with dry cows, for example in a single-row barn where they have to turn short, these cows often weigh 100kg more. and at places  cows walk much or turn short.

Ration, 2/3 of the total dry matter:  contains structure-holding forage, very important short after calving. A nice smelling portion hay works miracles. Of course, the cows further in lactation and dry cows an even larger part of the textured ration

Be careful with the protein and “fast energy”:  such as grain products because of laminitis. This is shown after about 4 to 6 weeks after the feeding error has been made.

 

May:

Service Timer:

In the Computer from the VMS  is a Service Timer, which most of you dairymen will know.

This will be used, for example, to know at which time to change the liners etc. Whoever has feeding on automatic program with accurate parameters will regularly need to check the list “Ration calculation log”. Whoever has the feeding manually will need to check the feed quantities every 2 to 3 weeks.

Once a month  by Batch edit => checking “Batch VMS Animal Settings” ensures that the VMS will treat your cows like you want them to be treated and that old settings or adjustments won’t stay the same for the cow’s life.

Also, for example, shaving hair from udder  or burn, calibrating feed or other important matters that you must not forget are handy when you are told by the Service Timer that you should not forget them.

We are people, we can think, but also we can forget. A computer never has to think and because of that will never have to forget! That is inclusive old settings as time notifications.

You can customize the Service Timer under “Monitoring and Control”.

Add your important things that you should not forget with the “new” button.
On the Monitor Board you will see notifications when something has to be done or happen.

When you have put yourself some new Timers we see you more like to watch which are overdue and that makes you and the system work better 😉

 

April:

Drying off cows without antibiotics?

Drying off cows without antibiotics has a few large advantages:

  • It saves money and it provides flexibility using less medicines or in a different way
  • If you don’t treat the animal, you will not harm the healthy udder
  • The cow stays sensitive to penicillin so that she will be easy to treat if an udder inflammation occurs with the next lactation.

It is and will always be very risky, to dry off a cow without antibiotics and that’s also the reason why it is important for you to have a clear image of which cows have a larger risk of having an udder inflammation. A cell amount of 100 doesn’t say much because that’s an average. It can happen that 3 teats have 20 and for one teat, most of the time with very little amount milk, is over 1000!

With the cow monitor and the graph behind it, you have a clear review about how the lactation of a cow in that area of production and the healthiness of the udder has turned out. It is so clear that you can choose the teat you want to evaluate. This is without a conductivity measurement or having something like that almost impossible!

If you see anything special, then a setting-dry period is extra dangerous!

Look for the “to-put-dry-cow” on the cow monitor. Double-click so that you see a graph.

Choose “Yield, conductivity & blood graph” (down below) and then select 365 days.

On the graph at the right you see that the cow with the left back quarter,  probably doesn’t have an udder inflammation but that it is subclinical and gives the least milk. Also the MDi, at the bottom, moves to much from the top to the bottom, like a wave and it stays like that.

If you see this graph pull up on your screen you will know what you have to do.

Of course it is very important to work hygienically, and always keep the dry cow in a clean and spacious area to spend her time being dry.

 

March:

Drinking space per cow

Provide enough room to drink, about a 10 cm drinking trough per cow. Make sure the drinking troughs are well placed. We know that a cow that has just come out of a VMS  is thirsty, causing her to eat more forage than with a dry mouth. A cow that has just calved is also thirsty!

The place where the cows drink from their troughs should be a calm place. In a stable the preference goes to passages where a cow feels safe, not  a place where a more dominant cow can push other cows in a corner. If this is the case, that a more dominant cow pushes a low ranking cow against the fence, then a low ranking cow will only drink when needed and most needed. Or not use the passage.

In conclusion: the best place to put a trough is at the end of the passage that guides the cow away from the VMS, in the birthing box or a place with enough room for the cow to move.

Of course, these drinking troughs and places should  be easy to clean. You could also get pre-cooled water which tastes better for the cow but is more prone to bacteria.

If you have, for example, 60 cows, it would be best to have 3 drinking troughs with the length of 2 meters each.

 

February:

Many dairy farmers with a milking robot also have a concentrate station or debate whether one is needed.

We may not expect a cow to eat more than 8 kilograms concentrate in the VMS.

Most cows even find that to be too much.

So if, in the long run, more concentrate is needed to keep the cows production at a maximum level, you have 2 options:  A larger ration with maybe more “extra” products along the feeding fence, or more kilograms of feed in the concentrate station (or a little of both).

A standard ration with extra products can make the ration along the feeding fence taste better, which was special interesting this year when most grass was less tasty. On the downside, cows can take a long time to select what they want to eat and because of that they will not eat the ration you calculated them to eat. Especially the low ranking animals or the cows that have a hard time coming out of the transition period,  have problems eating your calculated ration and will eat when the most delicious food is gone and is not reaching the full amount energy or percentage structure.

A standard ration with supplements  can easily become too high for the cows at the end of their lactation thus causing it to be expensive and giving you lazy or to thick cows. A concentrate station is often more convenient, you give it only to the cows that need it and the cows that are at the end of their lactation are easier to feed the right amount. Of course you also have the chance that the cows will come less to the VMS.

Again, the correct settings make the difference, so small portions in the concentrate station, keep an eye on how often the cow enters the VMS, will they only come in 2 times a day or maybe 4 times a day? Especially after calving the first time gradually build up the concentrate in the VMS  and then  build up in the concentrate station. If she is more than about 150 days in lactation or if she under a certain milk weight than put only concentrate in the VMS! Those are some things which make the concentrate station to a big value or no added value!

That supplement products may fit well is a fact, see the tip from December 2012, but that it also adds more waste and work is also known, so the results in accountant reports are almost always less attractive than you have calculated ….

 

January:

Milking Permissions.

At DeLaval VMS the farmer can set what the right moment is that the cow gets permission to be milked.
Especially the first months of her lactation to be milked more than twice a day is really a “must” for the high yielding cows. (Just ask women with newborn babies). It is also one of the major advantages of robotic milking. For end lactating cows it is not good that they are milked often.

When You start miking with VMS first time all cows are set to get Milking Permission after 6½ hours. And that is a good start setting. Also new cows / heifers are set on 6½ hours and have to be checkt by you on Automatic Milking Permission.

So how should the Automatic Milking Permission be set?

The Delpro program divides the lactation into three periods. This can be found under “Farm” => “Automatic Milking Permissions”. The first period the “Early Lactation” period is immediately after calving, the period that the cow has to be milked frequently. That is also very good for stimulating hormones, instincts and activates milk vesicles. This can easily give 10 – 15% more milk!

The first period may last until the time when most of the cows get their lactation peak, usually around 60-80 days. Since Delpro 4.5 we have a very clear graph from your farm for it.
In the early lactation period, the time setting is more important than the expected milk yield and we put on 5-6 hours. For that period, we set the permission for expected yield at the level at which the cows give their top production divided by 4. For example, your average heifers have as top in their lactation 28 – 30 kg per day, then we set the expected milk yield at 7-8, older cows average peak at 36 – 40 kg milk => put expected yield on 9.

In the second period, the “Mid Lactation” period is the story of hormones and instincts much less important.
In this period the declining production actually provide a noiseless falling visitor behavior. This is also close to natural behavior. So here is the “expected yield” most important! With this period we play a lot more and look:

  • how many cows do you have on the robot,
  • how are the teat lockers,
  • what is the production in that period,
  • how long you have been working with the VMS (Do all cows have calved one or more times since  you started with the VMS ?)

So that is not easy!

As soon as after the start-up  a correct expected milk yield is known (after approximately one week) you put the second period at 7 hours with the same expected milk yield as in the first period.  Then we look at the above points and first flip up the hours, step by step after a few month. At 8-10 hours. The next step is to obtain the expected milk yield to turn up. That is not so necessary when there are not so much cows on the VMS.
A rule of thumb for this is: what gives your heifer / cow around 120-150 days in lactation and that we divide by three.
Then, the expected milk yield setting is mostly 1 kg higher than in the first period.

Did you say 40 or 70 cows on a VMS? That makes a big difference and with a full robot has the mid laktation period to be put higher dan with 40 cows on.
Or 6.000 or 10.000 kg milk per cow per year?

The third period, the “Late Lactation” period is really for the last 2 to 3 weeks before drying off, no more than 2x a day milking: We put that at 10 hours and a very high expected yield. So then the hours are most important again.
Note that after 70 days, and especially in the second half of lactation, cows milking more than 3 times a day, eventhough they give much, it’s not good for the resting of the cow, the teat lockers and in total not good for the length of life from your cows!
(High average visit does do only well at birthday parties or farmer meetings …….)
It is also not good for the capacity of the robot and acidity in milk.
And gives more incomplete milkings.

Adjustments must be made in small steps in order to keep as much as possible, the cow in its rhythm.

You do have the option for an individual cow to set separately, e.g.  a high SCC cow more often or a cow with little milk or narrow teats milk less frequently.

With free cow traffic means the cow may be milked, at Feed First it means the cow has to be milked and therefore at Feedfirst the Automatic Milk Permissions may be set slightly higher.




TIPS FROM 2012

TIPS FROM 2012

December:

Compensationg Roughage when it’s not as good as analyses thinks

2012 was a special year of growth. In most places felt more than enough rain, good temperatures but with less sunlight. That gave a lot of grass growth. If a cow gives much milk she gets some more kilograms of concentrate. The grassland gets often no extra fertilizer and as a result there is a lot of grass silage won with less energy. Less sunlight means less sugar, and that means less tasty ….! Bacteria need sugars what they use to make lactic acid. This is necessary for the silage to succeed well.
These bacteria grab their part so your silage and the analysis seems all right. But too little sugar left for the taste. Usually, we are happy if you do not cut for your silage to short, but this year seems longer mowed grass at a disadvantage with comparatively much stalk and less energy and taste. And crude fibre is inherently uncomfortable. Additionally, you might not always have the opportunity to mow in the afternoon or evening, which also gives more sugars in the silage.
It seems not always to be seen in the silage analyses that we get disappointing results because the cows make far too little from your roughage. (How quick that goes see Tip sept. 2011). Roughage consumption is easy 10-20% lower when a cow comes less to the feed fence or already stops eating as the biggest draw is resolved ..

  • Do the analyses show same numbers as your eyes and hands?
  • Does your ration to feed fence have enough flavour?
  • Can you e.g. longer, shorter or otherwise different silage mix to feed?
  • Do you compensate what is missing?

For example:
Good silage, good analysis but they eat too little: Molasses??
Moderate silage, too little energy, sugar and flavour: Press Pulp??
Many crude fibre but is not sufficiently digested: Brewers’ grains??

Especially since food purchases this year is very expensive, it is very important with your (feed) advisor to see which supplement is good and which is not good for your business. If you can control that the costs might not go too heavy.

 

November:

Good working teat disinfection

Autumn has made its entrance, and to your hands and face You probably notice that the autumn / winter also deals rougher with your skin. And that happens also with the skin of the teats of the cow!

Last year, especially after the heavy frosts, here and there the teats became quite chapped and that gave that milking was less pleasant for cows and the teatlockers closed less good after milking! This has a few weeks after that resulted in more mastitis!
So please make sure if your disinfection system does its work good: DeLaval can make good programs, but cannot control!  Does it spray well, covers well, not (bit) clogged, etc. If it does not spray correct then you must disassemble the nozzle, key 14, and with screwdriver inside, 3 particles apart. Clean this well with hot water and brush or use a small screwdriver to scratch out. And / or with air blowing. Then on touchscreen once testing (VMS Menu => Robot => Service => Start Disinfect  Pump), clutter flow out, and then reassemble, metal on plastic so not too tight, “hand tight”.

It is also wise for example, after a disinfection can is empty, to rinse the whole system. Take off the nozzle and the (milk) filter in the can and flush the system with warm water. After that put a new filter on the weight in the can and the disinfection system works perfect again.
Also take care that the system will not get frozen!

And of course it is important what product do you use: it must have good antibacterial, skin care effect and work well with your installation!
One mastitis more or less or cows who like less to be milked because they have sensitive nipples is quickly more expensive than what you save by using inexpensive products.
DeLaval has e.g.  “Pro-Active” dip and that has been specially developed.
Should you opt for something else than take care that your choice has the same minimal antibacterial disinfectant and udder care effect!

 

October:

Oriented feeding  expensive protein concentrate.

As it looks at present is that the amount of protein in the grass silages is lower than other years. The grass grew quickly and much  but had to do with the same fertilization.
And buying extra protein looks to be expensive.
Except that protein is a useful and necessary supplement for the cow it is also very conducive for milk: protein stimulates milk production. But for to keep that full production the cow has to eat also much energy. If every cow can,  that is the question!

So a very good  reason to control to feed which cow what! For feeding for example soya / rape meal at the feed fence  bossy cows often see their chance to eat their part plus a bit of the neighbor, or a lower ranking cow, or a cow is still in a box, to steal away. Then there can be easily go expensive food to the wrong cow. And especially when milking with a VMS, we hope that cows come often to the feed area but not at the same time!

Taking away concentrate products from the feeding fence means you get a lower basic ration and thus more opportunities as gift in VMS. It’s definitely wise to feed skinny and / or sick cows and heifers a half to whole kilo concentrate with high protein  less than their herd mates.  That’s not good to increase  the production but the cow is recovering easier or the (small?) heifer gets the chance to grow into a stronger older cow.
And: “the last litre” for high productions this year could be very expensive!

How much milk can your cows give from basic ration + minimum gift in the VMS?

Go to the Status Board and sort on “Avg. daily Yield last 7-days”  average and see how many cows produce less.

 

September:

Regular calibrate concentrate

As you know, concentrates do not always have the same weight. And because a VMS, but also feeding station, is volume dosing it is important to calibrate regularly. As you know: one liter of lead weighs considerably more than a liter down. But we see that concentrates sometimes is 10-30% heavier or lighter than your previous feed. That means that if the VMS does not know you might feed much % more or less concentrates as you think and calculated.

How do we calibrate? On the touchscreen, we go to “VMS Menu”, then “Stall” and then we choose “Service”. On the far right “Calibrate”, including the third button “Feeder”.
If we press, we come to the calibration screen. These four buttons you scroll through by clicking the “next” button.
Start with making the manger good clean. So you choose which method and with the next button which “Feeder” type. Choose always to “Repeat 3 times” as it is and remains a sample. Then with “Collecting” is the concentrate going to fall, it must accurately been weight and if you have pushed “Repeat 3 times” recalculated again by three parts. (Also read the description on the screen).

Then we go to the PC and we open “Device”, and “Alpro WE” to the station which is calibrated. Then it says in the lower block “Dispenser Name” and choose the type of feed you have calibrated. If you double click the screen will appear where the “Calibration Constant” has to be put in.

It is wise to do this anytime if you chance feed type, feed supplier or otherwise altered but also, for example 1x every three months. This assignment can be put in the “Service Timers”.

 

August:

Cleaning rubber flap

For many farmers is the rubber flap that the teat cups captures a source of irritation to keep clean. And if he is not clean, it is also a source of bacteria and germs.
In addition to our Belgian farmers more, it also can affect the number coli in milk!
A tour along our mechanics gives the following tips:
A good method is the rubber flap just to inject a solution of Ultra combined detergent.
Well let soak, then with the brush or similar cleaning.
Note also the inside.
At least 1 time a week.
It is ideal when you have hot water available on the hose to the VMS.
Replacing the flap, as he no longer wants to clean or if he’s around / warp. Because then bacteria and germs too settle easily.
Not skimp on, but with good treatment the rubber flap can last years.

 

July:

Three or four teats to milk

With robotic milking you see often big differences in production per quarter of a cow. Often there is an old mastitis where it comes from but there can be also another reason that the cow is (become) unequal .

Almost always, this milk is of poorer quality. But you do not always see this in the SCC because the amount of this quarter is so little to the other three. However, the robot often has more work to find the teat and the cow will find it less enjoyable to be milked. Especially when the production of such  teat goes near or below 0.3 kg per milking, the robot will take off the teat cup and then re-hang. Sometimes several times. This is what the cow does not like, she finished her food, emptied her udder,  and  wants to leave.
We see therefore often that, when  farmer programs this cow as “three teat” , the cow likes the milking much more, and therefore likes to come to the VMS more often, and with ease produces with the three teats more milk as with four teats previously. In addition, the milking time also will considerably be shorter, more comfortable for the cow and time saving, also interesting for the farmer!

How to make a cow three teat?
If the other milk may go to the tank: Penicillin is excluded!
When you decide on time it is possible to dry the teat in the VMS PC and then the next day by hand milk/check the wrong teat, then wait 2 days and repeat emptying,  wait 3 days and empty. Do this until you are confident that the teat dries without complications.
Depending on the cause, there are cows who will be next year even back four teats.

Is a cow infected heavier or with cow related bacteries than the vet has an effective tool which makes the cow final three teat but also “burns out”  the (sub) clinical mastitis.

 

June:

Read back previous tips

It is now June 2012 and that means there are now 2 years’ Tips of the Month “on this site.
And DeLaval itself has not been idle as well. In particular, the latest generation robot has become even more reliable, and further developments, which is supported by the program Delpro, gives many opportunities to score with your cows!

And when you have been using a VMS milking for more years, you have the option to choose whether you want to use the latest developments or not.
I would therefore make the statement that when you are using a DeLaval VMS your cows have to give more milk than before, with at least equal and preferably lower cell count, but also milk better than colleagues who do not have DeLaval.
This is mainly because of the milking technique, and because the program Delpro, but most important: you as “cow watcher” are still central, the key to combine these posabilitys!

See it this way: DeLaval VMS and the programs give the passes and you score the goals!!
Take a look at two years tips after another and if you think that your results can get better let me know.
Do not be satisfied with an average result. We are not either !!
And if prices come under pressure again than you cannot …

Read this story (at first here was a story about a farmer in Sweden, now this article is even more worth reading): http://thenavigator.delaval.com/top-vms-producers-honored-in-vegas

 

May:

Cows too cramped in VMS

After first day milking with VMS or at the start with new heifers or new cows, it is recommended to close them first a bit tight in the VMS. If the cows are used to be milked in the VMS that is just not good because:

  • They stand not good, quiet and sometimes almost crooked
  • They spill more feed
  • Especially higher rear teats are more difficult to connect
  • With 2 mirrored VMSs on one VMS group, the cow is curved to the left in one VMS and curved to the right in the other …, so the udder is also in a different place and is therefore more difficult to find for the robot.
  • VMS starts as backdoor is closed properly and that takes longer. And of course, much longer for large or thick cows.

So make sure that cows stand comfortable and also check that the back door closes correctly, not to narrow or too wide.

The manure plate has to keep moving when the cow stands against it.

 

April:

Back-up on the right place

There is another computer from a VMS stolen ….
So farmers: Be warned!
Of course by trying to keep burglars outside your door, but also change regularly the USB stick with backup and store one  in house or at least not round the PC !
That was the case and all backup information was also gone ….

 

March:

Easy reading on PC and Touchscreen

Many “less young” farmers have old reading glasses laying at the computer in the farm office.
If you cannot look good, not easy, it is logical that you don’t like to study the PC and the programs of the VMS deeper and for instance you might mis important information about the functioning of the VMS or about an individual cow.

Please note that reading from the computer usually requires a half strength less than when you read in a book or newspaper!
For reading book or newspaper +2? Than on PC +1½!
This means in practice that you have to sit less close to read.
And reading glasses for a few Pounds, that might not be the inhibiting factor …!?!

 

February

VMS Support Port

The VMS Support Port is a useful aid for heifers and cows to guide them quietly into the VMS. During the first day you start with the VMS, but also in the everyday use of the VMS  the tool is a welcome addition and provides a lot of work convenience and pleasure. Using the fence one person (alone) is able to learn “new” cows and heifers into the VMS. But it is also useful when there are cows to be milked by priority, for example, a lame cow or cows in heat. Take them behind the gate and you know that she cannot escape or there will no bossy cow come between.
The gate can be mounted without welding and grinding on each (existing) VMS. Using cross-links, the height is variable to adjust, depends on size of cows and is to desire by the farmer. The construction is made of thick-walled tube and fully galvanized.
After use, the fence completely folded back along the existing gate/fence of the VMS, and so takes a minimum space. To click the Support Port on the fence is possible with delivered hooks.
The VMS Support Port costs depend on distance, installation is free.
For more information, more photos, or orders you can contact Gregor Gross Bolting, phone: 0031-6-13 15 75 95 or grossbolting@planet.nl

 

January:

Business check

At most farms who work for several years with one or more robot(s) it is going good to very good.
And now it’s January of the new year 2012 and your intention will certainly  not be:  “to fall asleep”.

So a new year, a new mirror to look critically at your business, at your cows and trends to watch. How are you prepared, how is your herd developing, etc., etc.
Do you have an action plan (step by step) for the coming years?
Where is your next challenge?
Think of business development, personal labor input, production and especially the lifetime of cows.
A modern slogan is “sustainability”, also for your company.

Where do you stand in 2015, 2020, … … ….?

Taking a look with us in that mirror often finds accents, sometimes even where you did not expect….




Tips from 2011 and 2010

Tips from 2011

December:

Easy help cleaning VMS

The traditional parlor was cleaned (usually) two times daily. The VMS also has a daily cleaning necessary to be able to continue functioning.
By everyone is now known that camera and the last part of the arm is most sensitive (dirt) part of the robot. The camera needs 3 times a day a check or cleaning for example with “Antikal” (anti-lime?), especially if you have a lot of lime in the water, that causes Limescale and that may not have any chance!
Every time you rinse your boots you also rinse and squeeze the sponge: every time you pass.
And sometimes put a little of a cleaning product or de-lime product on the sponge will help even more. Thus, the camera all day / night gets a small supply cleaning after each milking.

Furthermore the short / long milk tubes also need a daily cleaning routine. VMS wash them off but it does so “with her eyes closed.” The farmer sees the corners and checks.
A useful tool here is a car brush like the Gardena (see figure).
The Teat cleaner cup also can be cleaned this way properly.
And, … everything is in the same time checked for correct functioning!
The caps of the VMS and the robot arm also can be cleaned with this brush perfectly.
Advantage is also that it splashes less than a “normal” hand shower.

You better not clean the camera with a brush, to prevent scratches.
Better is using soft paper towels.

 

November:

Shave udderhair in time

In the fall, and especially from end lactating cows hair on the udder grows quickly. This can make the robot to search longer to find the teats, or give more incomplete milked cows!
Has shaving the udder, or burning, a place in your work protocols?

 

October:

Good strategy claw trimming

To eat much roughage a cow needs to come often to the feed area.
To give much milk a cow must often come to the robot.

In order to realize all that is needed very healthy claws.
That cannot be achieved by only trimming a cow when she is lame but you need to have a preventive trimming program.

This means you trim al the cows before the dry period and check after ± 120 days in lactation. And in such a way that claws not only heal but also grow stronger.
After parturition cows have a heavy time: recover from calving and giving much milk. And therefore they should be able to eat and walk much. Those cows you really have to minimize trimming because trimming always gives thinner and fragile claws.
With healthy claws makes a cow on one day easily 2 or 3 more visits to the feeding fence, which means 10 to 20% more roughage, and she does an extra visit to the robot!
And that is good for more milk and also for a shorter negative energy balance!
And that translates into more disease resistance and a longer life!

Thus earns a monthly round hoofcare program for (nearly) dry cows and cows that are in mid lactation herself easily.
Farms I’ve visited I often left an example of how preventive hoof care needs to be done.

 

September:
In the spring grass is more than 1000 VEM and is delicious! In summer and autumn this drops to  ± 950 VEM.
Imagine a cow eats about 18 kg dry grass in spring, far more than the autumn grass for example:
18 x 1000   = 18,000 VEM (accounts for ± 28 liters)
15 x   950   = 14,250 VEM (accounts for ± 20 liters)
difference …….3,750 VEM

1 kg of concentrate is ± 950 VEM. From August you usually feed some dry matter from grass silage and/or maize but that also has not VEM of spring grass. So when you want to compensate the high yielders there is required 3 to 4 kg of additional concentrate… …

Lower yielding cows have with 14,000 VEM often enough.
So it is with the various cuts this year, the spring silage is energetic and very tasty with lots of sugar. The later is less tasty and has less VEM. Again count that the cows just easy eat 2 kg more of the spring silage than from later harvested.

Compare it with the sitation you also like to eat more when mother/wife has done a very good cooking job.

So then you will have easily a drop in the feeding of 2 x 950 = 1900 VEM per cow per day! That is also 2 kg extra feed to maintain the VEM level….
In addition, there are also large fluctuations in protein, etc.

It is very difficult to keep the cows on the milk all seasons round. So another possible motivation to make several pits to distribute de harvest and make it possible to spread the ration wider over the year.
Also fluctuations, especially in protein is not only bad for the production but also bad for laminitis and resistance for diseases.
And so this has also a lot of influence on behavior, the count of visits to the VMS, production and lifetime production from the cow!

Additional problem this year is that the second and third cut silage this year is almost impossible to keep cold. So when the silage is stored too high or the feed speed to slow the silage analysis can be easy different than the silage you are feeding.

And then the feed rate is actually the boss about the ration instead of you …!?!

 

August:

Ventilation plan

This year with its varying temperatures and humidity shows once again that good ventilation and fresh air is as much as an absolute requirement for our increasingly producing dairy herd. Cows need more and more fresh air and bacteria and viruses, so diseases, hate that!
You should not smell too long and too much manure, silage, etc. in your barn and avoid blind spots!
Make a good ventilation plan, watch the most frequent wind direction and take account if there are inhibiting factors such as buildings, trees etc. around the stables.
Open sides or sometimes even open “headsides” mostly do ensure adequate intake.
Fans move air only, so let them pull fresh air and let them create a circulating air flow through your barn.
We hope to see one blow towards the VMS, because cows like to walk and stand in the wind and then it is right in the waitingroom and the robot room cooler and more comfortable for her, and flies hate wind.
The other direction depends on the width and layout of the barn.
Depending on the content of the stable, they should almost always be turned on soft or harder!
Draft is unhealthy, (little) fress wind is healthy!

 

July:

Healing chance by mastitis

Because each milking brings data in the computer you can see quickly whether abnormalities are present in milk or that something on a cow changes. So you can be quicker in taking action. (see tip of the month June 2010)
This and following the developments in cow monitor and in the graph is pretty well possible to estimate if you have to treat the cow and how long?
Depending on speed of approach and following paragraphs, the cure rate for high SCC cows lays between 20 and 90%. (source UGCN)

These cows have a lesser chance of recovery:

  • Lactation number > 3
  • Lactation stage > 100 days
  • Duration increased cell count > 2 weeks
  • Height SCC > 300,000 c / mL
  • More often treated? > 2x
  • Rear Teat
  • Resistance cow moderately / poorly
  • Type of bacteria? SAU, CNS
  • Insensitivity antibiotic?

Try to estimate on time if cure is promising or has no chance.
Chanceless cows, even though it is cow Rebecca with lots of stories, can cost lot of time and money and meanwhile infect other cows in the herd ….!!!

 

June:

Efficient layout barnplan

Do you have renovation or new building plans?
Consider the following list:

I have in 3 minutes, or one person can (!):

  • A newly calved cow brought into the VMS
  • A lame cow in the treatment box
  • Separate a cow to treat
  • A dry cow moved to other group
  • A calf moved to new group
  • The young cattle moved to new groups

In my (new) walking route, I see three times a day:

  • The milking cows
  • The dry cows
  • Newly calved cows
  • Heifers
  • Calves
  • The sensors of the feed auger
  • My cows have to make as less short turns as possible to save their claws.
    (Also -especially- the dry cows?)

And if you have no other possibility it is to consider to put rubber on these places on the racks!
And maybe you have for yourself even more ideas, good luck!

 

May:

Heavy silage is also heavy in stumach

You are quite right when you start to mow, imagine that we are going to have just as long wet periods, as we now have a dry period!
But think about how to store, because the difference in forage could well be very big this year and thus more difficult for the coming season to make a good diet!

(See “March”)

 

April:

The teatcleaning treatment prior to milking has two known functions.
Obviously need to clean the teats.
But especially the good preparation to the milking is perhaps even more important!

Hence the time saved on shorter pre-treatment often is lost in time of milking or even in the good empty  milking of the cow. So good teat cleaning is better for the milk yield and also for the SCC!

Recent research has again shown that the time between pre-treatment and  the under hanging of the cups may take almost one minute at a time. So use this time for good boost.

In VMS, this often means using the default settings, only when a highly productive group has one VMS, or light milking cows, you can put on lighter or double for slow milking cows. Look at the progress of the flow on the touchscreen. With proper adjustment, the cow quickly near its highest milking speed, stays there and when finished goes very quickly down , then each quarter is taken off immediately.
This is not only good for the empty milking the cow, but also for the teatpoints.

The settings can be made for individual cow or each VMS.

A clean, well-functioning teat cleaning cup is also a requirement.

March:

Store special grass silage on a special place

Good forage is the basis for good economic management. Goal is to come as close to the 365 days to give your cows a ration equivalent to providing the best possible quality. This is thanks to you, for example to keep the fields through the winter as dry as possible and keep free from moles to give weeds so few opportunities. And as less possible sand in the silage.
And in the summer harvesting to the correct length and in fine weather . That all this does not always works is a given. Hence the need now to think about how to store your silage so you can feed as long as possible your cows so they can perform well. And we now know that good ration with a robot means more visits to the robot and more milk. The effect of good roughage supply gives an even bigger result having a robot!

So how do you store your silage?
This could mean the so-called lasagne silage, then you make more layers over each other. This takes a lot of the interim closings, so you need to have at least two clamp silos or hardened places available.
Or do you have some too short, too long or to wet or too….? Then also store it separately so you can use that to make adjustments instead you are forced to feed it as main menu.
It would be very regrettable if the answer to your problem is located in the silo but you cannot use it because other silage lays before ….

February

When you have different feeds or concentrates  provided in the VMS or in the box it happens sometimes that one is  blocked or for some other reason no longer works. You see or hear concentrate  falling, but it appears to be one kind of feed. That other kind of feed you have not programmed for no reason so it gives an immediate drop in production or other effects  what you do not want.

It would be nice if the probes of the feed auger from your layout at the sight that you can see when something is wrong. Or a part transparent tube above the VMS.
Or even test second kind of feed to tap the touchscreen if you do not trust it!

 

January


More often than expected, are mice, looking for food, able to gnaw through wires and cables. This leads to annoying malfunctions and costly damage. Especially in winter when other food is difficult to find and some food can lay around the VMS. The holes, pipes and tubes, according to mice are safe places to stay and find food. Be aware of this to have as little as possible places like that and put poison on a regular basis who are for other pets on the farm not accessible position.

Tips from 2010

December:

Freeze risks.

It’s winter again, are you ready?
The VMS should actually be in a room that never falls below +4 degrees!

The compressor is also a risky freezer, but it is often in a warmer room.

A heater towards the VMS and / or warm air from the engine room certainly helps.
And an (insulation) plate or rug from above the VMS to the ceiling in front of the barn helps to keep the warmer air in the VMS space.
The fan that is supposed to keep flies out in the summer can now, in the slowest setting, push the “warm” air downwards towards VMS.
Such a plate or rug should be able to easily remove or open when the winter is over, especially when it gets very hot in the summer.
Then it holds the stale air …
A drop of anti-freeze on the clean sponge now and then also helps.

And of course: watch out for open windows, doors and possible draft holes!

 

November:

After start milking with the VMS  the schedule is changing properly. Again structure in labour is very important for success.
Working in protocols is not always easy, but does help.
Maybe it helps to put some points the first time on the calendar or put at the service counter.

That would look like this:

At morning food swiping first, and look in the stable (is it quiet?).

Then: Everytime cleaning boots  rinse sponge and squeeze too
3 x per day: 2 minutes-check, clean camera + VMS-check (he works good?)
1 x per day: milk jugs, pipes and cleaning jug clean and check
1 x per week: frame VMS, food bowl, manorplate and photocell.
1 every 2 weeks: concentrate gift retrace, USB stick switch
1 x per month: check Cow Configuration (see august).
1 every 2 months shave or clean udders
1 x per 3 months: do concentrate calibration

October:

The choice how much concentrate a cow should get is often determined by how much milk the cow produces and / or how far she is in lactation. Yet it is also very important in the amount of concentrates to look at the condition of the cow and roughage to estimate, namely the ratio of roughage / concentrate and by-products is very important for the cow and look at her (rumen) health. In what fit and active state she is has even much influence on how the next lactation starts up again, so how long she stays on your business, think  to extend peak production instead of a short high peak  what is also dangerous for health and claw embarrassment. We see a lot of cows who are on the edge of acidosis. These are not only very sensitive cows but also cows that suddenly come less to the VMS.

Harry’s Rule: Try, especially the first 30 days after calving, concentrates and by-products should not be more than half its kg DM roughage! (16 kg DM => max. 8 kg concentrate)
And later in lactation keep this ratio in mind too.

Again, the “eye of the farmer” is gold again!

September:

The days are getting shorter, make sure you participate in study groups or meetings where you will find colleagues who run into the same things as you. Milking with milking robots is still relatively new and acknowledge that both you and I have not “stopped learning” are opening opportunities for further development. We often see comments on your experience that makes both users better!

See also page study.

 

August:

It is wise to use “VMS Cow Configuration” to check all cow connected settings at least once a month.

Maybe you have used settings that are no longer required or should be changed. For example teat-settings and time settings, or for slow milking cows, etc. The VMS always does what it is told to do, but that does not mean it is supposed to anymore.  Odd numbers or missing checkmarks can be seen immediately.
It  also can be wise to reset the settings for a cow that has calved.

In Client: Click on the full herd (small black cow icon) than right-to “Batch Entry” and then to “VMS Cow Configuration”
In Delpro: Select a cow in Status, then with “contrl A” select all cows, go to “Batch Edit”, to “Batch VMS cow settings”

And you have a good overview on the cow-settings.

 

July:

Automatic settings, as well for feeding as for milk permission are allright for 80-90% of the cows. Certainly correct milk permission is positive for production. But please take the other 10 to 20% beyond, who have to be milked perhaps less often or more often. But also (temporarily?) more or less concentrate than given advice is wise, because you as farmer the best sees your cow! Making time for this work pays very well because it results in fewer cows that cannot keep up the good work on your farm, its reducing replacement rates and thus increases the average production and age of your herd !!

 

June:

By using VMS  use of antibiotics to bottom? Through the 2-minutes-check, cow monitor and MDi, abnormalities are earlier seen. Often before the cow has mastitis or something else! Maybe you can use this time to send a sample? So you can focus on the right antibiotic and go for minimal use!!

Faster action means less antibiotic and a shorter dip in both production and roughage intake. And especially the latter is very important for the recovery and the resistance of the cow.
Painkillers also help.
So she can handle more when there comes a next infection.