Farmer/owner: The Pešek Family
Farm location: Rankov Chotěboře, Czech Republic
Farm name: Peškovšch Farm
Herd: 60 cows
Milking system: Fullwood M2erlin
Date of installation: October 2015
The Pešek family installed the first Fullwood M2erlin robot in the country in October 2015.
Libor and Jan Pešek started their farm business in 1991 and over time have expanded to cultivate 82 hectares of farmland and milk 60 dairy cows. Their son, Libor Jr (pictured above) is the second generation to work on the farm.
The family decided to improve the conditions of their conventional milking parlour and decided upon a robotic milking system. They then upgraded their barn facilities to accommodate a Fullwood M2erlin robot.
Libor Pešek Jr states “I really like the M2erlin’s electronic milking arm which is silent, accurate and easy to maintain”. He also believes the process of separating the milk is very easy by using the M2erlin’s HMI screen and separation unit.
As well as their Fullwood M2erlin, the family purchased a 3800 litre Fullwood CS milk cooling tank.
Libor adds “each cow has a pedometer that is used not only for identification but also to monitor their health and activity” through the Crystal herd management software.
In terms of technical support, the family are pleased how Fullwood CS are able to access their robot remotely without needing to visit the farm, they are available 24 hours a day and service the robot four times per year.
“Our cows easily adjusted to being milked by a robot. The near silence of the machine initially helped them to get used to the system” and Libor joked “the sound of their feed being released helps them to adjust too!”
The cows are now visiting the robot an average of five times per day.
Thinking long term, Chris and David purchased a larger parlour than they currently require to enable them to increase their herd in the future without the need for a parlour extension.
The Barton’s conclude “the new parlour was the last piece of the jigsaw and it is fantastic. We cannot speak highly enough of it. We are thrilled!”