Successful robotic milking systems are built on much more than installing robots. During a recent Lely webinar, 3 producers shared what has worked on their farms, offering valuable insights into feeding, cow flow, management, and facility design. Through an FMS viewpoint, these were my takeaways.
The Producers
Jason Baus (Tower View Acres, Wisconsin)- three A4 robots, started in 2016. Installed the Vector in 2024. Producing 7394 lbs per robot fat-protein-corrected milk (FPCM)
Andy Meyer (Minnesota)- started in 2010 with A3 robots; after a tornado in 2018 he upgraded to A5’s. Producing 7062 lbs per robot FPCM.
Brad Putz (Putz Dairy)- milking 330 cows on 2 different sites. The first site is all Holsteins with A3 Nexts started in 2012, second site started in 2023 with A5’s milking all Jerseys. Combined, both sites are averaging 7633 lbs per robot FPCM.
Robot Visits and Cow Traffic
Across the three farms represented, average robot visits ranged between 2.4 and 2.6 visits per cow per day. One metric that stood out was the percentage of irregular interval cows:
Tower View- 0%
Putz Dairy- 3%
Andy Meyer- 8%
Maintaining low irregular interval numbers reflects consistent cow traffic and effective management of robot settings and herd.
Fetching:
Fetching routines varied minimally from farm to farm:
- At Putz Dairy- the Holstein site he typically fetches 5–7 cows per day, while their Jersey site only requires 0–2 fetches.
- Andy only really fetches fresh cows, relying on ration adjustments rather than frequent intervention. If the number of fetched cows begins increasing, it’s viewed as a sign that the PMR needs to be reduced. Their average is roughly three fetch cows per day.
- Tower View averages around 10 fetch cows.
Rather than simply accepting higher fetch numbers, all three producers emphasized using them as a management tool to evaluate nutrition, robot settings, and overall cow motivation.
Stocking Density and Hoof Health
Facilities differed, but all producers emphasized the importance of hoof health.
Tower View houses 150 cows in 120 stalls, trims hooves at dry-off, and places the footbath in the center of the barn away from the robots.
Putz Dairy operates with 125 stalls for 143–153 cows, trims every two weeks, and manually walks all cows through a weekly footbath.
And Andy Meyer runs at approximately 25–30% overstocking, trims once at dry-off, utilizes rubber flooring throughout the barn, and credits those floors with dramatically reducing hoof problems. An automatic sponge footbath is positioned at the robot exit.
Despite different approaches, routine hoof care remains a consistent priority across successful robotic dairies.
Low Somatic Cell Counts Start with Cow Comfort
Each farm maintained impressive milk quality while using different bedding systems.
- 120,000–130,000 SCC using washed sand, weekly bedding along with a stall groomer, and scraping stalls twice daily.
- 75,000–120,000 SCC with sand bedding every other week, combined with grooming before rebedding. And is rarely treating mastitis cases.
- A yearly average of 150,000 SCC using mattresses with sawdust and a sprinkler cooling system.
The common denominator wasn’t necessarily bedding type—it was consistency in stall maintenance and cow comfort.
Milking Speed and Culling
Milking speed continues to improve as herds become accustomed to robotic systems.
Reported average milk speeds included:
- 8.5 lb/min, with Lely liners. After starting around 6 lb/min.
- 10.2–10.4 lb/min, with Lely liners also beginning near 6 lb/min.
- 10.7 lb/min on IBA liners, with the possibility of switching due to the expansion of Lely’s liner portfolio since he started.
Cull rates ranged from 30–40%, with milk speed and feet and leg issues remaining common reasons for culling. Interestingly, two producers noted that many culled animals were first-lactation heifers.
Refusals and Robot Feeding
Refusals ranged from .5-1.5 across the three farms. Another maintains refusals around 0.5 while limiting maximum allowable milkings to 4.5 per day.
Robot feed strategies were remarkably similar:
- Meal feeding for roughly three years, averaging 11 lb /100 cwt, with additional feed for cows under 30 DIM.
- Pellet feeding at 13 lb /100 cwt using a 25:75 robot-to-PMR ratio, emphasizing forage consistency.
- Pellet feeding at 11 lb / 100 cwt with a higher-starch, lower-protein pellet while testing forage quality and moisture every two weeks.
One producer previously experimented with corn gluten feed, but inconsistent intake, excess fines, reduced robot visits, and increased fetching led them away from that approach.
Across all farms, milk production generally peaked around 30 days in milk.
Fine-Tuning Through Data
Several producers rely heavily on the FMS Farm Scan to monitor performance and make adjustments. The consensus:
- Make only small changes at one time.
- Ensure everyone involved understands which settings are being adjusted before making changes.
Incremental adjustments make it easier to identify what’s working without creating unnecessary disruption.
Training Heifers
All three producers don’t pretrain heifers in the robots.
Andy says his heifers typically become fully trained within about 14 days after calving. Their biggest advantage has been improved safety when handling first-calf heifers- his kids can now milk cows safely.
Putz Dairy milks cows in a parlor and starts heifers there first before moving them to robots at 6 weeks to 2 months fresh; after that, it’s usually 2–3 weeks before they are completely trained in the robots.
Dry Periods, and Reproduction
Dry periods were either 60 days or 55 days. One producer noted that using clean sand-bedded dry cow pens allows them to dry off cows still producing over 90 pounds of milk while maintaining udder health.
Reproductive programs also leaned heavily on natural heats. All three producers breed approximately 90% of cows off natural heats, using Lut injections selectively.
Breeding selection criteria were very similar among all three farms:
- Milk production
- Feet and legs
- Udder quality
- Teat length
- Milk components (more recently)
Why Producers Chose Lely
All three producers had very similar answers:
- Strong dealer support
- Free-flow barn design
- Production and maintenance
- Durable, well-built machines
Lessons Learned
Perhaps the most valuable part of the discussion was hearing what producers would do differently if starting over.
The biggest lessons included:
- Work with a nutritionist who fully supports robotic feeding.
- Maintain feed consistency every day.
- Carefully consider silage storage methods; Andy switched to a pile versus bags.
- Invest in highly digestible corn silage to maximize intake and robot performance.
Final Thoughts
Although these farms differed in herd size, facilities, and management styles, several common themes stood out. Success with robotic milking depends on consistent nutrition, excellent hoof health, comfortable cows, careful monitoring of data, and making gradual management adjustments rather than dramatic changes. Technology provides tremendous amounts of information, but the producers seeing the greatest success are using that information to continually fine-tune their systems instead of relying on one-size-fits-all solutions.
If you missed the webinar and want to check it out for yourself, you can do so by clicking HERE!