Flexibility to get job done
Spending just an hour in the shed each day, plus around 20 minutes setting up the four feed breaks for the day, Joanne now has the flexibility to get her jobs done when she wants to. “I don’t have to do my jobs at the robot shed at 4am or any other regular time. If I’ve got plans for the day I do my jobs at a time that suits me. I’m often here at 7pm at night, but that suits me. It’s rare for me to be at my robot shed before 9am that is unless I’m going to be away for the day. There’s no need for someone to be there monitoring the robots. If they need me, they ring”.
Lely T4C management system
Joanne is kept well-informed with what is happening within her herd and their individual performance thanks to the Lely T4C management system which keeps track of each cow’s health and feed intake. Lely T4C knows exactly what is going on in the shed and serves as a library, operating system, herdsman, personal assistant and trainer all at the same time. If there is a problem with a cow, the many sensors within the Astronaut let Joanne know by analysing and presenting only clear and useful information helping her make both strategic and operational decisions quickly and effectively.
Joanne purchased a fourth Grazeway which allows cow’s access to four different feed breaks within a 24 hour period. Joanne finds that this new method of allowing for four feed breaks instead of three encourages her cows to visit the robots more frequently and in turn increases milk production.
“I really rate the Lely Astronaut A4 robots. They are light years ahead of conventional milking systems – both for the people and the cows” says Joanne. And, it’s not just the Astronaut Joanne rates, but also the service provided by Lely Center who are on-call and ready to act should they be required 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lely Astronaut - Joanne Crack (English / New Zealand)