Wondering what my grandpas would think of robotic milkers

This morning I am sure we accomplished a few things.  This afternoon it seemed like we got lots of things working, finished & running almost smoothly.  The Tech guys were here until late again tonight with some of the dairy equip team that has been working on getting all the necessary lines, wires, cables & valves etc., in place to make this whole thing work.  As I left to go to the house with three of my kids, I breathed a sigh of relief that seems things are coming together.  At times for the past week I have had moments when I wondered how (not if) nuts I truly am to be being a big guinea pig in this area for AMS.  I had really hoped that Tom would have his robots up and working before I even had mine unloaded.  That was not the case, and the building and things came together at my place remarkably fast.  I also stated many times that getting cows milking was priority number one and some of the little things could be taken care of at our leisure.  Overall days like this afternoon have made me happy with the decision and I am sure looking forward to starting to milk with the AMS. Three of my kids were out helping to train the cows to passing through the robots and eating at the robot station.  All three were happy and loved being out there participating in the process.  Most of us had Mountain Dews and Oreos.  There are few better ways to celebrate than with an Oreo. 

We had some of the inspectors from the state out today.  They have been great to work with, and seem excited to learn the technology that is involved in the AMS.  They have been involved all along throughout the process.  I think we all feel that the ability to produce high quality and safe milk is even more probable with an AMS than traditional ways.

The last few days I wonder what my 2 grandpas would think if they were here and could see the concept behind robotic milking systems.  I think that they were of the mindset that grandkids were the best milking systems.  I think they would be blown away by the set up, milk quality inspection ability, technology & functionality of the AMS.  I would love to have them here again for an afternoon to watch this with me.  I can visualize each of them in their own unique way standing in the doorway of the flat barn watching the robots milk the cows as the cows come to the stall on their own.  I can almost hear them talking to me and each other, awe struck as they reminisce about the way that they used to do it.  I think they would both be happy with the progress that has been made to produce milk more efficiently. 

At the end of the night, we have cows very interested in entering the stall to eat.  The cows are entering amazingly well.  I am certain that letting the cows adjust and "train" to the robot stations will be well worth the time come start up day for the robotic milking system.  Looking forward to early next week when we actually will milk cows through the flat barn.