I'm happy to say I have had no problems with robotic milking, the biggest problem I have is convinsing people that I am not mad and that the things work. There is so much bad press against robots due to the problems which a well known manufacturer have had that it is going to spoil it for every manufacturer. It doesn't take much to put people off or for people to assume they all don't work. Especially when all the negative old news is dreged up every time they are mentioned. Yes fair enough there have been some disasters with one particular make and there is currently some farmer's taking a firm to court but for gods sake don't get the wrong idear. The benfits of a robot to milking cows are far too good to be ignored, there is so much less stress for both the cows and the farmer, it is better for the cows as they can be milked more frequently - more naturaly when they want. Herd helth so much more improved as I have more time to notice any cows which are off colour - the first sign being that the cow will be to bring up to be milked as she hasn't come of her own free will. The spin offs have been the best things about the system, we expected a rise in milk yeild, didn't expect quite such a rise, didn't expect to eradicate mastitis but its disapered.
I'm happy to speak to anyone who is seriously interested and email me direct: Tim.Gibson@Farming.co.uk
Tim Gibson