We run Lely Astronauts on pasture too, and yeah, it’s a bit of a balancing act. The biggest thing is getting cows to the robot often enough. We keep paddocks close — no more than about 500 m from the robot — and use a Grazeway gate so cows have to walk past the robot to get back out. We feed a good hit of concentrate in the robot. That’s what keeps them coming in, even when the grass is sweet. If visits start dropping, we tweak the feed or open a fresh strip of grass a little later so they have a reason to come up. As for the A4 problems — yeah, we had some headaches early on. Pinch sleeves wore out faster than we liked, a few missed quarter attachments, and SCC crept up. We learned to keep spare sleeves on the shelf and swap them before they fail. We also stay on top of maintenance — vacuum checks, teat cup alignment, all of it — and we watch the Horizon data like a hawk. If we see cows skipping visits or a sudden SCC jump, we act quick. Bottom line: the robots work fine with grazing, but you have to manage traffic, feed, and maintenance every day. Don’t just “set and forget” — treat it like another herd chore. Since we tightened up those routines, milk yield’s been steady and cows are healthy.

We run A4 robots with grazing, and the key is keeping cows moving back to the barn often enough. Our paddocks are close, we use a Grazeway gate so they pass by the robot, and we feed a bit of concentrate in the robot to tempt them in. We split paddocks into a few breaks a day and don’t open the next one until most cows have milked. If visits drop, we hold them in a bit.