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DeLaval has experienced the elimination of feed for cows in rotary and parlor systems over the years, and now the company has seen operations using no-feed practices in VMS robotic facilities, too.

In January, the Bateman family in Mosida, Utah was recognized by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) as Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year. As the largest dairy farm in the state, the Bateman family manages a 12,000-cow dairy farm spread across four sites, 2,000 beef cows, and 3,500 acres of cropland. They also tend to numerous sustainability ventures and practices.

This spring, DeLaval VMS Batch Milking was featured in a webinar series, a producer panel discussion, and in the pages of prominent dairy and ag publications. Below, we rounded up all those important mentions so that you can read, watch, or listen to them while you are running errands, working in your fields, or doing other tasks to keep your farm going.

As the dairy industry faces unique challenges, an 80/20 approach could be the key to a sustainable and profitable future.

In the difficult times we are currently facing, expansion opportunities may be on hold or even canceled, but do they need to be? Could automatic milking still be the next step for your facility?

For more than 20 years, DeLaval VMS™ units have been used on dairy farms across North America and beyond. Some producers utilizing robotic milking facilities have experienced a range of advantages, including reduced labor requirements, more flexibility on and off the farm, valuable cow data, higher production levels, improved milk quality and better cow health.

As the days get shorter and colder, considerations in winter management can help protect the health and productivity of your herd.

Our new milking robot, the VMS™ V300, was launched mid-2018, introducing improvements in milking speed, capacity and cow health. Enhancements like these have welcomed some changes to the design of V300 barns.

The new DeLaval Voluntary Milking System, called Voluntary Milking System VMS™ V300, will be arriving at North American dairy farms very soon. With the enhancements and redesign for the milking system, we must consider some changes to facility and design planning. Here’s what you can expect with the new VMS robot’s anatomical changes and how they will – or won’t – impact the layout of your barn.

What will soon be the largest DeLaval free flow cow traffic robotic milking farm in North America is currently under construction in Western New York.

In this month’s edition of The Navigator we are sharing a (6) VMS milk-first, bedded pack layout with grazing access. This design is quite simple in that everything is covered under one square roof yet offers automation that is easy to learn for the cows and manage for the producer.

Our featured barn is a prototype of one of DeLaval’s most popular North American robotic barn designs. Why you ask? Above all, cows in this barn have the potential to be highly productive and that all starts with cow comfort.

Here at DeLaval, we are designing more large herd robotic facilities. We are rethinking everything in order to satisfy the criteria of cow comfort, cow flow, labor efficiency, flexibility of design, and future expansion. Regardless of farm size, these principles do not change. However, aspects such as herd management, milk transport, cow walking distances, manure management, and ventilation certainly do.

The DeLaval DelPro farm management platform has another update for you. Earlier we released DelPro FarmManager – and now it is time for DelPro Companion. There are some great new features and improvements packed into this new release. Features that were inspired based on your feedback, taking DelPro Companion to a completely new level.

Building a new barn and incorporating robots is a challenging process when all of the experts involved in the project can be on site. It adds another layer of challenges when the experts aren’t able to travel to the farm, but with meticulous planning, teamwork and use of the right resources and technology, a startup can still be a great success.

It’s been one year since we globally introduced the all-new DeLaval milking system VMS™ V300, and already dozens of V300 robots are milking cows effortlessly on farms in Canada and the U.S.

Hillcrest Farms, Inc., a successful family dairy run by brothers Mark and Andy Rodgers, has certainly overcome their region’s stifling heat and humidity, but another concern led them to start planning for a new way to dairy: labor.

For 135 years, DeLaval has nurtured a strong tradition of dairy innovation. Whether the aim has been to improve a physical process, such as harvesting milk, or ease a mental task, like a management decision, the goal has always been to help our customers do better.

Pulsation is smart when it can optimize the pulsation ratio automatically and can adapt the ratio to the needs of each and every cow.

The BCS is the world’s first commercially available system for automatic body condition scoring. The system operates while the cows move through a fixed point in the barn or through a DeLaval VMS™.

DeLaval and Fair Oaks Farms celebrated the completion of a state-of-the-art robotic milking facility built for optimal cow comfort and efficiency – as well as thousands of visitors.

Dave Gebhart, Key Account and Senior Technical Resource Manager for DeLaval Cleaning Solutions, gave a presentation on milk quality at the 2018 Dairy Education Conference in River Falls, WI. This article summarizes his key insights for troubleshooting.

The role of the transition cow in robotics is no different than in any other milking system. A good transition program minimizes calving difficulties and metabolic and infectious diseases.

A well-established routine doesn’t always mean doing the same thing at the same time, every day. In fact, routines in a robotic barn are often anything but “routine.”

John Donnelly knows all too well how preventative maintenance is a dairy farmer’s first line of defense against breakdowns and lost time. Learn how you can optimize the Milking Performance of your robot.

Today you can automatically record data that was once impossible to measure – but what are we monitoring, and how can the information help you meet your dairy’s goals?

Deciding how your cows will move and flow may be one of the bigger choices you make when planning your robotic milking facility.

If you are new to using DelPro for monitoring your herd’s reproductive performance, you’re missing key data to help improve productivity.

The 2 minute check is not a function within the DelPro management software, but is a management practice that allows you to keep track of every single cow in the herd. This enables you to take action in a very short time frame when a change in performance and/or an increased health risk is found.

Maintaining a 135-year legacy of innovations for dairy farmers doesn’t come without its challenges – including pandemics and crises. Throughout two world wars and several pandemics and outbreaks, DeLaval has adapted to continue providing world-class solutions to dairy farmers around the globe.

Retrofitting a dairy barn for the addition of milking robots has been a popular choice to make upgrades more affordable than they would be when building new. Coming from 20 years in the architecture and construction industry, I can tell you, retrofitting a dairy barn will require both physical and operational changes, same as many buildings in other industries.

We invite you to take a virtual tour of one of our actual robotic facilities. These barns use cutting-edge technology to optimize production.