fbpx
Print this page
Tuesday, 11 August 2015 12:31

No-cups rotary milks 400 cows in two hours

Written by 
GEA says its Dairy Pro Q is a game changer. GEA says its Dairy Pro Q is a game changer.

The world's first fully automated rotary platform, with 40 milking stalls, needs no routine ‘cups-on’.

Launched recently by GEA Technology at Teichroda, south-east Germany, the Dairy Pro Q is described by GEA spokesman Steve Pretz “as a game changer”. Four prototypes are running in Germany and two in Canada. 

Says Pretz, “With customers seeking efficiency and profitability, bringing young people into agriculture needed a change in mindset from ‘live to work’ to ‘work to live’ and needed to be attractive and exciting; we believe automation is the key.”

The new unit has 40 stalls each with a robotic arm. Cows are brought into the collecting yard, and enter the rotary platform in the normal manner before the technology takes over. 

Teats are cleaned and dried, fore-milk stripped and are post dipped within the liner. 

One employee is responsible for overseeing the robot and attaching any liners that need to be fitted manually. The system currently milks 400 Holsteins in around two hours.

The platform is running on the Blottner family farm (1740ha) which also stocks pigs, beef, fowl and deer. They sought less dependence on labour, consistency of milking and improved efficiency by increasing production.

Using automation increases efficiency without relying on staff, cows are stimulated properly for rapid milk let-down, teats are accurately dipped and the performance never waivers.

The system has already shown tangible benefits: production is up on average from 8kg/cow/day to 33kg; high yielders are topping 42kg. And somatic cell counts are down from 260,000 to 90,000, partly attributed to the cows being housed in a new building.

From a service perspective, the system allows individual stalls to be closed off if any faults are found, the milking continuing in the remaining stalls and the offending unit quickly removed for repair off-site.

Units are available from 20 to 80 stalls, and with capacities of 120 to 400 cows per hour, so there should be a system to suit most enterprises, GEA says.

Each robotic arm is much cheaper than a single stall robotic system.

www.gea.com

More like this

Ready to walk the talk

DairyNZ's Kirsty Verhoek ‘walks the talk’, balancing her interests in animal welfare, agricultural science and innovative dairy farming.

Featured

Every vote will count - Alliance chair

An independent report, prepared for Alliance farmer shareholders is backing the proposed $250 million joint venture investment by Irish company Dawn Meats Group.

John Deere technician's record hat trick

Whangarei field service technician, Bryce Dickson has cemented his place in John Deere’s history, becoming the first ever person to win an award for the third time at the annual Australian and New Zealand Technician of the Year Awards, announced at a gala dinner in Brisbane last night.

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Amazone unveils flagship spreader

With the price of fertiliser still significantly higher than 2024, there is an increased onus on ensuring its spread accurately at…

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…