Robotic Milking Barn
The milking barn has been operational for over a year. We have achieved over 12% increase in milk production per cow, and our animal health has improved significantly.
The robots milk cows 24/7 (except for 20 minutes 3 times a day for system wash). In the back of this picture, you can see the two robots in the side of the wall. The cows take turns entering the robot to be milked (and get their snack). The archway in the left of this picture is the gate that allows them into the milk area when they are due for milking. A similar archway to the right (middle of the picture) lets them out of the milking area when they are finished. Right front in this picture is the sort pen for cows with special needs (sick, lame, or otherwise need attention).
In the picture below you can see several features:
- Flush tank and ponds - the barn is cleaned by flushing water down the cow alleys. The green tank behind the barn holds the water for flushing. It is filled by a pump floating in the pond beside it.
- Sand Lane and stack pad - the cows are bedded with deep sand. When the manure is flushed out, some sand comes with it. The sand settles out of the manure and water while it moves down the sand lane. To the left of the sand lane is a stack pad. Settled sand is stacked here to dry. After it dries and drains, it is clean enough to re-use for bedding, so it goes back in the barn.
- Manure pit - after the sand is settled out, the manure and water go into the pit. In the pit, the manure solids settle to the bottom and rise to the top. In the middle is water that can be re-used to flush the barn. It is pumped to the ponds behind the barn.
- Feed bin - the cows are fed a pellet (dessert for them) when they are being milked in the robot. This bin holds the pellets.
- Cow lane - a cow lane connects the new milking barn to the old barn where the heifers and dry cows are housed. This make it much easier to move dry cows out and fresh cows in.
I documented some of the construction progress on this blog: http://www.baerfarm.com/journal1.
Some sights around the farm
