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Feeding liquids in the milking robot
The Astronaut milking robot makes it possible to feed every cow individually through the robot. If necessary, some extra concentrates can be fed to fresh cows. Feeding a special liquid mixture to fresh cows is becoming more and more popular. Such a mix may consist of high-energy liquids or it may include special minerals. Propylene glycol is a good example of a high-energy liquid.
Please refer to the graph shown above to get a good idea of the effect of feeding propylene glycol.
Feeding a high-energy liquid shortens the length of time during which the cow is in a negative energy balance. When a cow is in a negative energy balance, she will use body reserves to meet her energy demand. This is bound to affect the animal's body condition.
For fresh cows, special liquid mineral mixtures are also made and these mixtures can be fed by means of the Astronaut milking robot. For products such as propylene glycol, Lely has developed the Titania, a pump that sprays the liquid in the feed bin on top of the concentrates. A special pump- Dostec - can be used to distribute small amounts of minerals. Information about the Dostec pump can be found at http://www.aquablend.nl/. Both pumps can be fully controlled by the Astronaut management system.
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![Chart [10KB]](http://195.162.136.141/_pagepics//standard/2328/liquidbig.gif){kind=link}