Just one week after Milcotec’s service technicians first visited a Swedish dairy farm with robotic milking, the number of daily milkings per cow increased from 1.7 to 2.4. At the same time, somatic cell counts, which had exceeded 500,000, began to fall.
“That’s how fast they respond – within four and a half hours, Milcotec is here,” says Jonathan Boere.
Jonathan Boere, originally from the Netherlands, manages Björkänga Gård near Lövestad in southern Sweden as farm manager for his father, Wim Boere. The farm is located around 80 kilometres from the Øresund Bridge and milks approximately 240 cows using five Lely A2 milking robots.
“Service is, quite frankly, extremely difficult to get here in southern Sweden – and Lely is no exception,” Jonathan Boere explains.
Long waiting times and declining performance
The farm had experienced long waiting times whenever a milking robot failed.
“We have waited many hours for service when something went wrong. If it happened at an inconvenient time, such as a Sunday evening, nothing worked at all,” he says.
By December the previous year, the situation had become critical. When service technicians finally arrived, they often lacked sufficient experience to solve the problems properly.
“At that point, we were down to just 1.7 milkings per cow per day due to what turned out to be a relatively simple sensor fault. At the same time, somatic cell counts rose above 500,000 because the cows were not being milked correctly,” Jonathan Boere explains.
Contacting Milcotec changed everything
In January, the decision was made to contact Milcotec.
“We had had enough. We couldn’t accept that milking simply wasn’t working. It affects both udder health and production,” he says.
Only one week after Milcotec inspected the robots and corrected the faults, performance improved significantly.
“We were up to 2.4 milkings per cow, and somatic cell counts had already started to drop,” says Jonathan Boere.
Whenever Milcotec is called, technicians arrive within approximately four and a half hours, regardless of the time of day. Response times can be even shorter if a service vehicle is already operating in Denmark.
“I am very satisfied with Milcotec’s service technicians. They are skilled and highly competent,” he adds.
Remote guidance and flexible solutions
In some cases, Milcotec’s technicians are able to guide the farm by phone, allowing issues to be resolved immediately.
“If a permanent fix isn’t possible right away, they often help us set up a temporary solution over the phone, so we can continue milking at full capacity while they are on their way,” Jonathan Boere explains.
The fifth Lely A2 robot at Björkänga Gård was purchased used in the Netherlands and installed by Milcotec in September. It has been operating without issues.
The farm is currently building a light, insulated structure around the robot to protect it from frost during winter.
“With five robots, we have plenty of milking capacity and the option to add more cows,” says Jonathan Boere.
Milcotec now carries out quarterly service and repairs at the farm. Despite being a competing brand, Björkänga Gård also purchases spare parts for its robots through Milcotec.
From Denmark to southern Sweden
Before establishing Björkänga Gård, the Boere family operated a dairy farm on the island of Funen in Denmark.
“We sold our farm in Denmark partly because land prices were high and demand was strong. Moving to southern Sweden made sense, as it was relatively affordable at the time,” explains Jonathan Boere.
Björkänga Gård includes 184 hectares of owned land, supplemented by 120 hectares of leased farmland. The cows are fed home-grown grass and maize, along with dried sugar beet pulp and brewers’ grains from a Danish brewery.
Experiencing performance issues or slow service on your milking robots?
Contact Milcotec to learn how fast, experienced service can restore capacity, milk quality and peace of mind.
🚜 Machines
Gerth Petersen – 📱 +45 20258260 – ✉️ gerth@milcotec.com
🔧 Spare parts
Anne Lang Krogh – 📱 +45 23354095 – ✉️ anne@milcotec.com
