2001 Volume 63 Issue 3 Pages 141-146
We investigated the operating conditions of milking robots on the Tanaka Farm for a six-month period (July 1999 to January 2000).
The results are as follows:
1. Three milking robots in three separate barns operated 24 hours a day for the six-month period and the average milking capacity was 17.0 cows per hour per three milking robots.
2. The average number of milking times per cow per day was 2.9, making it a high frequency milking operation.
3. The average ratio of teat-cup attachments per milking robot was 95%. Cows on which the robot failed to attach teat-cups returned a few hours later and the subsequent attachment attempt was successful.
4. Each barn held approximately the same number of cows. By the completion of the six-month study period, however, the number of cows on Barn I had decreased by 11, whereas the number in Barn II had increased by 8 and Barn III by 1. Ideally milking should be done with a consistent number of cattle.
5. The relationship between milk yield (Y) and number of milking times (X) is expressed in the following formula: Y=6.91X+11.34
