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farmerjan
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@greybeard . That was a very informative article. Thank you for posting it. There are a few things that I would have to take issue with, only from a very small sample of the farms I have worked with and know of that have the robots.
The one farm that is milking around 100-110, has said that his production increased nearly 10 lbs per cow over his previous parlor barn 2x milking. His cows have adapted real well, and he has seen a decrease in mastitis. His cows visit it on an average of 3 to 5 times in 24 hours. Especially the higher producers; partly that is from wanting more grain I am sure. But it has been proven on several trials, that if a fresh cow is milked more frequently in the first 60 days of her lactation, the increase in production will persist longer and she will make more overall milk than one that is only milked 2x. I have 2 farms that milk their fresh cows 4 times a day. More labor, but they say they have seen a significant increase and the cows udders do not get so tight and put the stress on the ligaments. They have been doing this for nearly 2 years, and have had some time to study the results.
Wages here are not in the $16./hr range. The best milkers that are on hourly pay are getting $10 to $11./hour. Most are on salary as I mentioned in my previous post. Most farmers base it on a 8-10 hour day. Over the course of the year, that is about $10-11/hour if my math is right. Plus the house which is figured at about 500-600/month or say 6,000 a year. Plus the electric @ about 75-100 month. So another 1,000 a year. So if they are paying 25,000, plus 6,000 plus 1,000 = 32,000 a year value. Take that and divide by 120 hours for 12 days on 2 off, x 26 weeks = somewhere about $11. per hour.
So that means our labor costs are less than what they are figuring in the article. That would mean that the robots are actually less economical. Yet, the one farmer I mentioned above said he has figured that he is doing better financially. I haven't seen his books. He says with increased production, and less mastitis, he has seen a small but positive improvement in his bottom line, even though the milk prices are abysmal.
I have no arguments with the article and do find that it has really spelled it out pretty good. Again, I don't think that any of the farms are saying it has greatly increased their cash flow, or made things better financially. But it has taken some of the stress out of the hired labor situation, it gives the farmer more flexibility as the article says, to do things that need doing, and some like crops or harvesting, in a more timely manner.
It is a trade off, money wise, for most of the farmers. The biggest thing that the ones that like them is the flexibility of the system. It is a big initial outlay of money in the beginning.
The one farm that is milking around 100-110, has said that his production increased nearly 10 lbs per cow over his previous parlor barn 2x milking. His cows have adapted real well, and he has seen a decrease in mastitis. His cows visit it on an average of 3 to 5 times in 24 hours. Especially the higher producers; partly that is from wanting more grain I am sure. But it has been proven on several trials, that if a fresh cow is milked more frequently in the first 60 days of her lactation, the increase in production will persist longer and she will make more overall milk than one that is only milked 2x. I have 2 farms that milk their fresh cows 4 times a day. More labor, but they say they have seen a significant increase and the cows udders do not get so tight and put the stress on the ligaments. They have been doing this for nearly 2 years, and have had some time to study the results.
Wages here are not in the $16./hr range. The best milkers that are on hourly pay are getting $10 to $11./hour. Most are on salary as I mentioned in my previous post. Most farmers base it on a 8-10 hour day. Over the course of the year, that is about $10-11/hour if my math is right. Plus the house which is figured at about 500-600/month or say 6,000 a year. Plus the electric @ about 75-100 month. So another 1,000 a year. So if they are paying 25,000, plus 6,000 plus 1,000 = 32,000 a year value. Take that and divide by 120 hours for 12 days on 2 off, x 26 weeks = somewhere about $11. per hour.
So that means our labor costs are less than what they are figuring in the article. That would mean that the robots are actually less economical. Yet, the one farmer I mentioned above said he has figured that he is doing better financially. I haven't seen his books. He says with increased production, and less mastitis, he has seen a small but positive improvement in his bottom line, even though the milk prices are abysmal.
I have no arguments with the article and do find that it has really spelled it out pretty good. Again, I don't think that any of the farms are saying it has greatly increased their cash flow, or made things better financially. But it has taken some of the stress out of the hired labor situation, it gives the farmer more flexibility as the article says, to do things that need doing, and some like crops or harvesting, in a more timely manner.
It is a trade off, money wise, for most of the farmers. The biggest thing that the ones that like them is the flexibility of the system. It is a big initial outlay of money in the beginning.
