Feed barn robot 'boosts yield'

To back that claim, data from over 1,500 OptiDuos in the workplace has been collated to demonstrate time and labour savings made by users, but it has also showed multiple improvements in cow health.

“Constantly refreshing feed in feed barns or pads encourages cows to eat more, resulting in a more stable rumen and increased milk production,” says DeLaval feeding specialist Ludo Bols.

“OptiDuo will run up to 10 times a day and customers tell us that it appears to be stimulus for the animals to eat, because on every occasion, they return to the fence to eat more.”

The OptiDuo remixes forage, “freshening” the feed to make it more palatable and reduce waste. Featuring a layout that incorporates a twin-spiralled rotating auger and adaptive drive function the machine can work with a variety of forage types that need to be mixed and made available to cows 24 hours/day.

The latest model also allows the farmer the option of feeding concentrates, via an integral dispenser that can be filled while the machine is charging, allowing concentrates to be fed out and recorded throughout the day.

The first OptiDuo was launched in 2018.

The latest incarnation of OptiDuo features an impact-resistant engineering thermoplastic cover made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) – a product often used in motor vehicle production. On the control front, updated software collects more data that in turn is shared using DeLaval’s operating system.

The company notes that farmers with milking robots have reported that cow flow and robot visits have also improved with OptiDuo.

“On farms that have chosen to invest in milking robots, we have seen milk yields increase by up to three litres of milk/ cow/day,” Bols says.

“For those who have invested, OptiDuo has provided improved cow health, farm profitability, operational efficiency and milk yield.”