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| October 16, 2002, was a memorable day at DeLaval when the new VMS barn was inaugurated. |
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| The building is an isolated one-story building with parallel roof made of pre-fabricated concrete and wood. The Indoor size: 22.5 m (74 ft.) wide, 52.5 m (172 ft) long. Total area is 1150 square meters (12,380 sq ft). The resting area is 900 square meters (9,700 sq ft). There are cubicles for 69 cows of which 13 cubicles are for dry cows in the front end of the building |
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| Natural ventilation, the same type as used in greenhouses, is used in the VMS barn. Temperature sensors and a wind speed sensor control it. |
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| Air intake openings and air outlet openings under the eaves of the roof are adjusted according to the wind to set the temperature of the building. For example, the exhaust air opening is closed in the windward direction in strong winds and opens more on the leeward side. |
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| The office has a central place in the barn with a good overview and a nice working environment |
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| The equipment consists of cubicles enclosed by free-hanging stall dividers designed without support from the resting area. This enables the use of cow mats which cover the whole cubicle row. Nothing at the stall floor can disturb the cow’s movement pattern. The equipment is firmly bolted into the stall floor and then covered over in concrete and asphalt to create a comfortable space for the cow’s head, which gives her freedom of movement when she lies down or gets up. The stall pallets are equipped with mattresses for isolation and to make it comfortable, soft and cozy as the cow lies. |
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| Along the feeding table are feeding stalls which are also equipped with rubber mats to make it more comfortable during the cow’s 6-8 hour long eating period. Standing on dry and soft ground eliminates hoof problems for the cow. Here the cow has a protected space for her roughage intake, which is a benefit for low rank cows and heifers. |
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| The manure alleys are open and built with a slope towards the center of the gutter to drain urine. In the middle, under the drive rail of the delta scraper runner is a pipe with an opening running along the upper quarter moulded into the floor. Inside the tube is a time controlled spiral auger that transports the urine away. The system effectively keeps the walking areas dry, which has a positive effect on hoof health and minimizes the ammonia emission. |
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| To reduce the risk for slipping injuries, soft asphalt, which gives good friction, is used. The scraped alleys have a hydraulic driven delta scraper that is equipped with a sensor that instantly reacts against increased resistance. In other words, the scraper stops if a tail or leg is in the way and waits until the obstacle has cleared. This is all done in order to protect the animals. |
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| Four concentrated feed stations are installed which can provide up to three different kinds of roughage. |
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| Here at Hamra Farm, two kinds of feed are provided: a basic and a high yielding concentrate. The VMS station holds a small portion of the high yielding feed, to lure the cow that is not included in the total amount. |
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| The roughage consists of silage and hay. The silage is a grass-clover mix to which is added 5-8% crushed oats by ensiling. Beet pulp is mixed into the silage that is transferred to the barn in a tractor-pulled mixer wagon where it is stored on an intake conveyor in the space behind the back gable. The feed is divided on the feeding table via an overhead roughage wagon that automatically runs 6 times a day. |
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| Five tiltable water tubs provide the animals with water. They are easily cleaned once a day.. |
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| The water tubs are placed along the manure alley in the feeding area and also in the upper end of the cubicle row. |
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| The cow traffic is controlled and divided into three areas: feeding-resting-milking. The cow circulates from the resting area via VMS milking to the feeding area. The resting area consists of four rows with resting stalls that, besides the short and convenient walking distance, gives a compact building solution. |
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| Smartgate: Parallel to the VMS unit is a smart gate that regulates the cow traffic. Cows with no milking permission can reach the feeding area without passing the VMS unit while cows with enough hours since last milking are given a “red light” and must pass the VMS unit to be milked before they are allowed to enter the feeding area. Without the smart gate, all cows must pass through the VMS unit, which reduces the milking capacity. However, there should be no restrictions on the cows that want entrance to the feeding area, unless they need to be milked first. |
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| One-way gate: The passage from the feeding area to the resting area is equipped with one-way gates which means that only one direction is allowed while the opposite way is forbidden. |
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| Summer grazing: According to Swedish law for the protection of animals, all animals should be given the opportunity of outdoor exercise and graze during the summer period. In the far right end of the barn is an exit equipped with a smart gate. Cows with milking permission are denied access to grazing while the ones without permission are allowed to pass. A one-way gate regulates the passage. From experience, we know that the cows have no problems learning the routines. However, one should bear in mind that long distances can interfere with the function so that the number of milkings a day is occasionally reduced, for example, from 2.8 to 2.3-2.4, before it is returned to normal frequency after some weeks. It is recommended that the distance to the graze should not be longer than 500 meters (540 yards). |
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| From the second floor, you can see the milk room with a 6000 litre (1585 gallons) cooling tank equipped with “smart cooling,” an integrated part of the VMS system. With traditional milking, the tank is filled within 2-3 hours, two to three times a day, whereas, in robotic milking, a smaller amount is continually added throughout the 24-hour cycle. |
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| The cleaning unit of the cooling tank is integrated to the tank and placed by the further gable. |
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| The cleaning unit is often placed close to the VMS unit. At Hamra Farm, it is placed in the milk room because of the short distance to the milk room. Cleaning of the entire system is done three times a day at 30-minute intervals. |
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| Not visible, is the divert unit, which is placed on the right wall in front of the tank. Here, colostrums and milk from treated cows is separated from the milk, and, therefore, not mixed into the tank. Three different categories of milk can be separated and stored except one alternative that goes directly to drainage. |