How much time does a cow use a VMS in a week?

For efficient VMS utilization it is important to know which cows use a lot and which cows use little time from the milking robot. We have therefore compiled a list where you can see exactly which cow consumes the most time per visit.
But it becomes even clearer if we look at which cow uses the most time over a whole week!

The average cow uses about 2 hours of a robot per week. The differences are quite big.
The cows that use the most time are sometimes over 4 hours and those cows therefore use 2x as much time as your average cow. You would expect that this has to do with many liters and many visits per cow. But at the top are not only cows that give a lot of milk! Cows that milk very slowly or that are difficult to connect, or that are not well adjusted, set, are also (too) high on this list.
These cows significantly reduce the capacity of your milking robot!

Which cows use a lot of time and which is undesirable?
Can anything be done about this? Are these cows worth it?
Or just don’t inseminate again…?

The list was originally intended to see cows with rapidly rising MDi even earlier, but the columns about time use are a nice extra ?
The MDi number, but especially the color differences in this list, you can immediately see which cows have a rapidly rising MDi at the last milking.

Do you want this list? Then send an email to harry@harrytuinier.nl

I will tell you in my reply mail how you can conveniently put this list in DelPro on your computer.

Manure plate.

More and more often we see that a stainless steel container has been neatly placed around the manure plate behind the VMS.
This looks clean and tidy.

However, it is then more difficult to check whether the manure plate is still doing its job properly, you cannot see whether the manure plate is moving properly when a cow is in the VMS.

Especially on farms with VMS Classics, we do not have to explain how important the proper functioning of the manure plate is. But even with the V300 it still has a function.

So make sure every day that the manure plate moves well, the spring still does its job, the rods are straight  and the manure plate is not weighed down by manure. These are all reasons why he moves less, the cow suffers from the manure plate and it is more difficult for the robot to connect.

Milking speed per bull.

Livestock improvement organizations not only want to know the production of the daughters of their bulls, but also ask about milking speed, behaviour, etc. .

Now this can easily be found in DelPro, but per cow and not per father.
DelPro has many lists and almost anything can be made for wishes or clear overviews tailored to your company.

We have also made a list to view the milking speed of the offspring per bull. With possibly incomplete milkings, who kicks off most often, etc.
But for those who milk with VMS Classic the Performance Index is also included .
That is a figure that indicates how quickly the cow is connected.
(See previous Performance Index Tip)

A list with information per bull is especially interesting when there are more daughters of the same bull.

And it is of course important that the fathers are entered in DelPro!

Do you want this list?
Just an email to harry@harrytuinier.nl

Start grazing.

Starting early in the spring is especially important when combining robotic milking and grazing.
And not the amount of grass but the carrying capacity of the soil should be decisive.
If there is not much grass yet, this mainly means that the cows learn the cycle faster:
barn – milking robot – pasture – barn / feeding fence – milking robot – pasture – and so on.

Three steps up and three steps down.

Do you have construction or renovation plans?

Nowadays, when the robot place is constructed, a pit is often made near the robot. This is very useful when you want to do something with the cow and the udder.
Obviously no treatments that cause painful and bad memories for the cow of the robot visit.
Then three steps down is a nice size to be able to reach everything.

For the office space, three steps up is very pleasant.
When the office is in a good place, you have a beautiful view over the cows and “the stable!”(Being able to look over the robot into the stable is often an extra three steps higher).