So since Faster Horses said to post about our robotics here... We milk about 275 cows (can have as many as 300) in a flush barn, which is a barn that is very gradually sloped so that water can be used to flush the aisles clean. The water goes out into a settling lane where the sand that gets kicked into the aisles stays and can be reused, then goes out into one lagoon where tbe solids settle, then is pumped into another lagoon where it is reused to flush aisles again. We have robotic milking and a bedding robot. The robots we have are Galaxy Astrea 20.20. One arm milks two cows, unlike other robots on the market. We have 3 arms and 5 boxes (So one of our robots just milks one cow at a time). The view into the pit in one of robot rooms. You can kinda see the arm a little bit there in the middle. The cows all wear an ankle bracelet that the robot reads so it knows which cow it is, how much feed to give her, whether she actually needs to be milked or just was, so should be booted out, if she's been medicated so her milk needs dumped, etc. The cows like the automated brushes to scratch their itches! You can see the bedding robot in the background here. We bed with sand, and it goes around on that track, sprinkling sand into the stalls. The stall partitions keep the cows laying in the proper position so when they poop it goes into the aisle, not into the bedding where they will lay in it. The partitions are also flexible, allowing cows to get up and out of the stall more easily. And here's Paintball! If you're on Facebook and want to see more, check out our page, MJC Precision Dairy Solutions llc. There are lots more pictures there!
My friend works at a farm with mostly Jersey cows, and I just got to visit all the cows, and I never thought I'd love cows so much. Haha their eyes are HUGE. This was baby Ruth, who was by far my favorite because she had a permanent resting B face. Look at that furrowed brow! I want to take her home...
But also full of sass and drama. You never find someone who is "meh" about Jerseys. Either they love them or hate them! (They are my favorite breed)
We really like it, and definitely recommend robotics! The cows love it there, too, so it's a win-win for everybody!
Free range german mountain cows. Made that up I don't know what breed they are but they are soo cute.