Good, stable milking worth its weight in gold

Good, stable milking worth its weight in gold

1 June 2019
Good, stable milking worth its weight in gold

Good, stable milking worth its weight in gold

A Southern Jutland dairy farmer got rid of two worn-out milking robots and replaced them with a used Mobistar milking system from Dairy Systems Danmark. It soon brought an increase in yield.

Good, stable milking is worth its weight in gold!

Dairy farmer Gerrit Damsteegt, 30, of Marinusminde Farm in Nørre Vollum near Bredebro, can attest to that.

In late March, he begin operating a used 2x12 Mobistar swing-over milking system as a replacement for two milking robots.

In less than a month, it raised the milk yield of his herd of 140 Danish Holstein cows by an average of 2 kg per cow per day. And the increase in yield looks set to continue.

2½ hours per milking

Milking now takes 2½ hours each time – including preparation, washing and cleaning of the resting areas.

Gerrit Damsteegt took over the farm in March 2018. The parlour dates from 2008, since when the herd had been milked with two DeLaval milking robots.

‘When I took over the farm here, it soon became apparent that the milking robots were worn out. There were a lot of breakdowns, and they cost far too much in maintenance’, says the young dairy farmer.

‘So I soon realised that something had to change as regards the milking’, he adds.

 

Unexpected yield increase

‘The Mobistar milking system is completely problem-free. I hadn’t expected the yield to rise in the way it did when we switched from robotic milking to two conventional milkings. So the reason for the yield increase must be that the milking is working significantly better now than it did before’, explains Gerrit Damsteegt.

‘As well as the yield going up to its current level of about 10,500 kg ECM per cow-year, a handful of three-teated cows have become four-teated again’, he says.

The used Mobistar milking system from Dairy Systems Danmark is installed in a part of the shed where an isolation box used to be. There was therefore no need to extend the shed to make room for the milking plant.

 

Aiming for low-cost production

‘Before choosing this solution, I had considered investing in new milking robots or a new milking parlour. The reason I made the choice I did is that my strategy is to avoid big investments, produce at low cost and generally see how it goes’, explains Gerrit Damsteegt.

‘I opted to get a fixed price for delivery, fitting/installation, “milking-in” and dismantling of the milking robots. That way, I didn’t run into any unexpected costs. They also took the milking robots in part-exchange’, he says, adding:

‘They started dismantling the milking robots at 6 o’clock in the morning, and that afternoon we were able to do our first milking with the Mobistar system’.

 

Great collaboration with Dairy Systems Danmark

‘The collaboration with Dairy Systems Danmark around my change of milking system has been great’, says Gerrit Damsteegt.

In the event, he opted to buy the used milking plant through purchase finance.

‘I arranged an advantageous purchase finance plan with the bank. It runs over 10 years, which I think is appropriate for a used milking system’, says the Southern Jutland-based milk producer.

At the same time as changing the milking system, he also carried out a conversion in the shed, making room to expand from the current 140 cows to 180 cows plus heifers.

Gerrit Damsteegt is originally from the Netherlands. Before taking over Marinusminde Farm last year, he had spent 5 years working in Denmark as a stockman.

 

Good, stable milking is worth its weight in gold. Gerrit Damsteegt of Bredebro can attest to that. When he got rid of two worn-out milking robots and replaced them with a used Mobistar swing-over milking system, milk yield soon started to go up.

 

Gerrit Damsteegt opted to buy the used Mobistar swing-over milking system through purchase finance. I arranged an advantageous purchase finance plan with the bank. It runs over 10 years, which I think is appropriate for a used milking system’, he says.

 

‘I hadn’t expected the yield to rise in the way it did when we switched from robotic milking to two conventional milkings. So the reason for the yield increase must be that the milking is working significantly better now than it did before’, observes Gerrit Damsteegt

 

At the same time as changing the milking system, Gerrit Damsteegt also carried out a conversion in the shed, making room to expand from the current 140 cows to 180 cows plus heifers.

 

Gerrit Damsteegt took over Marinusminde Farm in March 2018. The parlour dates from 2008. His strategy is to avoid big investments, produce at low cost and generally see how it goes.

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