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Pasture grazing and robotic milking
Lely, the most experienced company in robotic milking, hasnoticed that dairy farmers who introduce robotic milking on their farm are faced with many questions on how to organise pasture grazing and make a success of it. Let there be no misunderstanding: the combination of pasture grazing and a Lely Astronaut robotic milking system is no problem. In fact, 70% of our customers apply grazing.
The trick with robotic milking is to attract the cows to the robot on a regular basis. When cows are kept inside, their motivation to visit the Lely Astronaut milking robot lies mainly in the fact that concentrates are available in the robot. For the cows, these concentrates complement the feed they receive at the feed fence. But how can cows be motivated when grazing is involved?
When cows are sent out to pasture for grazing, the quality of the grass is high most of the times so that cows may lose their motivation to visit the Astronaut milking robot. The best way to control which cows can go out is by using the Lely Grazeway selection box, an excellent tool for pasture grazing. The selection box is located at the exit of the cow housing and only those cows that have been recently milked are sent outside, while cows that still need to be milked are kept inside. Their new motivation for getting milked is that the cows know they can go outside after being milked.
Of course, many grazing techniques can be adopted. But no matter which technique is chosen, to make pasture grazing a success in combination with a robotic milking system it is important to follow some essential 'grazing guidelines'. These include information on walking distance, cow health and grass quality.
For more detailed information, including examples of a grazing time schedule, grazing systems and factors that influence grazing as well as relevant guidelines, please refer to the attached document.
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