Cow traffic concepts

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Click to watch the animated cow guided naturally through the barn with DeLaval feed first cow traffic: resting, feeding and milking.  

1. Natural cow behaviour, resting, feeding, returning to rest and ruminate.
2. Natural feeding and resting continues, udder milk level rising.
3. Feeding again, udder full. DeLaval smart selection gate sends her to DeLaval VMS to be milked.
4. Milked, exits to feed again, returns to rest and ruminate

	Feed first	Free cow traffic	Guided cow traffic	Semi-free cow traffic
Basic principle	Use DeLaval smart slection gate SSG in combination with one way gates. Cows have free access to feed area. Cows are checked by the DeLaval SSG when they return from the feed area where they are either directed to the robot or to the resting area.	No gates are used. Cows have free access to all parts of the barn.	Use one way gates. Cows must go through the robot to gain access to the feed area. One way gates prevent cows in the resting area from going to the feeding area.	Use DeLaval SSG in combination with one way gates. Locating DeLaval SSG  between the resting and feeding area will allow cows to reach the feeding area, depending on the cow milking permission. DeLaval SSG will not allow cows that should be milked to go into this area until they have been through the robot.
Your best choice if you...	Want your cows to have unrestricted access to the feed area. Want regular milking intervals (lower SCC and higher yields). Want to maximize your milking robot's capacity. Do not want to spend time pushing cows every day. Want an easy concept.	Want to invest as little as possible in the barn. Are willing to push up to 10% of the cows at least twice a day every day, to keep milking intervals regular. Have a very palatable “candy” in the robot manger. Do not need 100% of the robot's capacity.	Want a practical concept to start-up a herd on a robot. Are prepared to regularly monitor your cows dry matter intake. Can deal with longer average queuing time. Pay attention to low ranked cows.	Want the benefits of free cow traffic without the disadvantage of pushing too many cows.
Main disadvant-ages	Need a relatively small investment in gates.	Labour issues with pushing up to 10% of your cows. Economical/health  issues related to less regular milking intervals.	Dry matter intake of cows may be restricted. Lower capacity of the robot due to numerous refusals. Low ranked cows may need to be pushed.	A bit more difficult for cows to learn. Need a relatively small investment in gates. For the same investment, feed first has more advantages.
Investment	Moderate and profitable.	Nil	Low	Moderate
% cows to push	1% (usually sign of a sick cow).	Up to 10%	Up to 5%	Up to 5%
Labour require-ments	Minimal	High, demanding	Normal	Normal
Milking interval	Very regular interval.	Irregular	Variable	Variable
Capacity of the robot	Maximum	Reduced due to many refusals.	Reduced due to many refusals.	Slightly reduced due to some refusals.
Compatible with VMS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes