“Our 135 cows, milked by two saturated robots, graze day and night in Loire-Atlantique”

“It took us several years to find the right rhythm. We are in the seventh year of pasture with two saturated robotsbut only routinely for three or four years,” counts Romain Lelou, associated with his father. Both decided to saturate the robots installed in 2017, without removing access to thegrass in spring and fall. “We have 135 milkmaids, sometimes 140. We even went up to 145 for a week or two. »

Breeding sheet

Gaec du Champ-Léger

• 2 partners, 1 employee

• 190 ha by OR

• 135 cows at 9,750 l (49 TB; 38 TP)

• 1 360 000 l of milk

• 10 % free time

• 2.3 milkings/VL/d grazing; 2.8 in building

• 30 ares/VL pasture

• 352 €/1 000 l margin on food costs (April 2022 to March 2023)

A three-way pasture gate

From the beginning of March to the end of June, they access one day paddock and one night paddockchanged every two days. Despite the remote plots (1.2 km for the end of the field farthest from the stable), good use of the robot – 2.3 milkings – is possible thanks to specific behavior by the breeder who devotes time to manage the flows.

“In the morning, at 7:30 a.m., I push those that are being milked, about half of the herd, towards the three way pasture gate so that they go to a new plot. The other half gradually enters the building and leaves, once processed, until 11 a.m. The building is then almost empty. Around 2 p.m., those who went out in the morning return to the robot. At 6 p.m., I'll pick up the whole herd. The first milkings come out until 9 p.m., there are a lot of people in the building but a shift is created. »

From October to November, they have a paddock during the day and stay in a building at night. Five time slots are programmed on the pasture gate, set with the objective of not having cows on pasture in milking delay.

To facilitate the flow between the pasture and the robot, Romain Lelou comes to the building at least twice a day. “I spend around thirty minutes there in the morning and forty-five minutes in the evening to get everyone inside. Sometimes I also spend lunchtime to take out the few cows that may have remained lying in the cubicles; it takes me fifteen minutes. » Not counting the management of fences, the breeder devotes a little less than two hours daily to cow grazing.

Silage harvester at 8 a.m. and concentrates in the robot

Another lever for combining grazing and saturated robot: the time of distribution of the ration at the trough. The goal is for the cows to come out empty stomachs to eat the grass in the paddocks. Thus, the delightful of the Cuma passes in the morning, at 8 a.m. “I take the milked cows out at 7:30 a.m., before they pass by to prevent them from leaving on a full stomach and going to bed without eating grass. » Those who were still outside “come back on their own. The others, the first outings, return from 2 p.m. and know they have corn to eat.”

“When the cows are outside, the ration at the trough includes 8 kilos of corn dry matter, the rest is 10 kilos of grass that they will eat on the ground. » At the same time, the robot distributes 5 kilos of concentrate per VL per day all year round. “I give more concentrates to the robot than to the trough to attract the cows. I do not touch what is given to the robot so as not to disturb the attendance. » On pasture, the breeder lowers the corrector by 1 kilo at the trough.