The Rural Voice, 2000-05, Page 28ATTENTION MOCO AND SWATHER OWNERS
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24 THE RURAL VOICE
While it's said the cows have free
choice with regards to milking, the
robot does have some control. "If
they come too early they're rejected,"
says Henry. "The robot opens the
next gate and the cow just walks
through."
It also lets the producer know if
there are any problems. "I have a
pager. If the robot stands still for
more than one hour it will tell me.
Then I call and ask why," Henry
says.
This happened once in the early
stages when a gate shifted
trapping a cow. This particular
problem has been eliminated,
however, since the cattle are trained,
allowing for the removal of those
gates.
While the introduction of r,hoN on
Introducing the robots
was not without growing
pains.
the farm last fall has brought a
flexibility uncommon to dairy
operations, it was not without its
growing pains. Though Henry says
they were told there would be
headaches at first, both he and Sandy
admit that didn't really prepare them
for what to expect. "You needed
someone 24 hours a day to train the
cows and show them how the robot
works," says Sandy. "They were
scared of the box and didn't want to
go in."
"With the idea of free choice we
chased them for 24 hours a day so
that they learned they could go 'in
when they pleased," says Henry.
"Basically they learn to come in
before they're uncomfortable."
Saying it took about three weeks
for the cattle to catch on, and for
Henry to finally be able to go to bed
at night, Sandy admitted that in those
days there were some moments spent
wondering if they had made the right
choice.
However, in retrospect they think
the problems could simply have been
lessened with more help. "We should
have maybe hired more people so
that everyone could have had some