Leasing two milking robots and saving liquidity

Leasing two milking robots and saving liquidity

Henrik Hansen, a newly established milk producer near Gram, took over two worn-out milking robots that were too expensive to maintain. They have now been replaced with two used, refurbished Lely A2 milking robots, leased from Milcotec at a fixed rate that also includes spares, consumables and service parts.

Although there are a great many loose ends to keep track of when two worn-out milking robots are to be dismantled and replaced with two more, Milcotec can manage it all within two days – while milking continues throughout.

Just such a task was accomplished recently by Milcotec at Henrik Hansen’s farm, Heinsgaard, in Lindetskov near Gram in Southern Jutland.

Henrik Hansen took over the business in June 2018, with around 135 Holstein cows plus young stock.

‘There were two 16-year-old DeLaval milking robots when I came here last year. It very soon turned out that they were getting worn out. That meant they had got too expensive to maintain, so I decided to replace them’, says Henrik Hansen.

 

New milking robots expensive

‘I began by getting prices on new milking robots from two companies. It would be a big investment, whichever make I went for’, observes the Southern Jutland-based dairy farmer.

‘Then’, he continues, ‘I noticed that Milcotec has a scheme where they lease out used, refurbished milking robots’.

‘I made enquiries to the company, and the upshot is that I’ve now leased two refurbished Lely A2 milking robots from them’, says Henrik Hansen.

Milcotec dismantled the old milking robots and installed the two Lely A2s for an agreed, fixed price.

‘I’ve leased the two milking robots at a fixed daily rate that also includes spares, consumables and service parts’, says Henrik Hansen.

 

Financial certainty

‘With the leasing agreement, I’ve got the cost of keeping the robots working under control. That gives good financial certainty, which I appreciate, being newly established. As well as that’, he points out, ‘this solution doesn’t put anything like as much strain on my liquidity as if I’d opted to invest in two new milking robots’.

‘It was important for me to find a solution that isn’t too costly liquidity-wise. The result is that I can carry on having a permanent employee. Not being on my own with the day-to-day work is something I set great store by’, says the Gram-based dairy farmer.

‘Fortunately’, recalls Henrik Hansen, ‘there was no need to make any changes worth mentioning to the shed in order to replace the worn-out milking robots  with the two Lely A2s’.

 

Replacement within two days

The replacement of the two milking robots on his farm was done over two days in the middle of January.

‘On the first day’, he goes on, the people from Milcotec were here at 6 o’clock in the morning to start dismantling the first of the old milking robots. On the afternoon of the same day, we were able to start milking with the newly installed robot’.

‘The next day, the whole process was repeated with the replacement of the second milking robot’, the Southern Jutland-based dairyman continues.

‘This way, we managed to cut the period when we were milking with only one robot down to 8-10 hours on each of the two days’, he explains.

 

Milking brought forward to the night before

‘To prevent the replacement of the milking robots costing more in lost yield than strictly necessary, we began milking early both times, from 10 o’clock the night before the replacements went ahead’, Henrik Hansen explains.

The average yield from his 135 cow-years is about 10,500 kg ECM.

Heinsgaard Farm cultivates 160 hectares, growing roughage and grain. Some of the corn is sold.

Henrik Hansen is currently fitting out the farm buildings on a neighbouring property of his for veal calf production.

‘The reason I want to start producing veal calves alongside my dairy farming is so that I can use all my own grain as feed. It will also mean that I have enough work for my employee all year round’, concludes the Southern Jutland-based farmer.

 

Here, one of the engineers from Milcotec is in full swing with the dismantling of the first of the two worn-out DeLaval milking robots at Henrik Hansen’s farm. Milking is now done with two leased, refurbished Lely A2 milking robots from Milcotec.

 

‘There were two 16-year-old DeLaval milking robots when I came here last year. It very soon turned out that they were getting worn out and too expensive to maintain, so I decided to replace them’, says Henrik Hansen.

 

The leasing agreement with Milcotec means  I’ve got the cost of keeping the robots working under control. That gives good financial certainty, which I appreciate, being newly established’, says Henrik Hansen, who took over Heinsgaard Farm last year.

 

The average yield from Henrik Hansen’s 135 cow-years is about 10,500 kg ECM. He is currently fitting out the farm buildings on a neighbouring property of his for veal calf production.

 

Henrik Hansen took over Heinsgaard last year, with 135 cow-years plus young stock. The farm cultivates 160 hectares, growing roughage and grain. Some of the corn is sold.

 

Henrik Hansen is happy with the solution of leasing two Lely A2 milking robots from Milcotec. This saves him liquidity so that he can carry on having a permanent employee.