If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. If you want to see how well your robotic milking operation is running, then it’s important to use some specific key performance indicators (KPIs).
Key Performance Indicators can be used to help you achieve your goals by setting targets for the short, medium and long term. For robotic milking operations, they should be established at three levels: the herd, sub-systems and the milking procedure.
The herd
Established KPIs, such as days in milk, pregnancy rate, days open, somatic cell count and so on, are already familiar. These should be used with the following:
Robot capacity – the capacity of a single-box robotic milking station is determined by milking frequency (x) plus the number of cows to be milked. The higher the number of cows to be milked, the lower the milking frequency, and vice versa. A producer could decide to milk 60 cows 3x or 90 cows 2x. The total number of milkings will be the same – 180 – but can be configured according to operational circumstances.
Volume of milk or butterfat harvested per robot per day – feeding strategies such as pTMR (TMR at the feedbunk plus concentrate at the milking robot), grazing, organic milk production, freestalls and bedpacks will affect the outcome. For example:
Free stalls and pTMR: 60 cows per robot multiplied by 95 lbs (43kg) per cow per day = 5,700 lbs (2585kg) per robot per day
Grazing, free stalls and a pTMR:80
Cows per robot multiplied by 70 lbs (32kg)
Per cow per day = 5,600 lbs (2540kg) per robot per day.
Sub-systems
Generally, sub-systems follow standard industry principles. Major areas of difference are:
Nutrition – this should be a measure of the percentage of concentrate consumed per cow per day at the robot or external feed stations.
Milk quality – Somatic cell and bacteria counts are important. Mastitis detection index (MDI) is an excellent tool to manage daily routines. MDI = milking interval (x) blood. Target MDI is less than1.2. If higher than 1.4, check the following:
Milking interval: less than 12 hours for all lactating cows.
Conductivity: below 7 (mS/cm)
Blood: 0
If one or more is elevated, take action.
The milking procedure
Robotic milking is all about time – and idle seconds are an opportunity to harvest more milk per station per day. To evaluate milking efficiency, look at the robot’s activity in a 24-hour period.
Milking time – the amount of time the robot spends milking cows. It allows us to evaluate cow traffic to the station and how feeding strategies, cow comfort and cow training protocols influence cow motivation. A good target would be 20-21 hours spent milking.
Cleaning time – this is typically between one to 1.5 hours daily to keep the robot clean.
Idle time – the time the robot is empty and/or waiting for the next cow visit. These two-to-three hours could be considered as potential milking time.
Refusals – the robot will refuse a cow if she doesn’t have milking permission. The goal should be zero refusals, which can be achieved by adding a pre-selection gate.
Stall time – the time from when a cow enters the station to when she exits, including time spent prepping, milking and post-spraying. A good goal is less than seven minutes per milking.
Total milkings available per day – a good target is 180 available milkings. It works like this:
One day = 24 hours or 1,440 minutes
Milking time = 21 hours or 1,260 minutes
Average stall time =1260 minutes
Average stall time = 7 minutes
Total milkings available per robot: 1260 min divided by 7 mins per milking = 180 milkings per robot per day.
Francisco is on Twitter as @FranciscoJRV if you want to continue discussions.
Source: DeLaval
