Parlour size for one-man set-up 140 cows

AE01

Member
Livestock Farmer
Hi all,

Looking at options to upgrade our ageing parlour.

Want to be able to milk 140 cows as a one-man set up in preferably no more than 90 mins, plus wash down time, without feeling jet-lagged at the end of it. Herd size unlikely to grow beyond this but would like to build some flexibility into the setup should the opportunity arise.

Looking at a fairly comprehensive spec to achieve the above (Auto ID, Feed to Yield, Cluster Flush, Auto Seg Gate, Auto Wash), but still a bit unsure on number of units.

Parlour engineer initially recommended 12/24 but my gut feeling is it will not be big enough to achieve the milking time savings I need. Recently milked in a 20/40 which I felt was overkill for one-operator with slower loading/unloading times and lots of units sat doing nothing half the time.

Thinking perhaps a 16/32 might be a good compromise?

Would appreciate any thoughts and experience from the TFF collective.

Thanks in advance,

p.s. the budget is not limitless so no daft suggestions please!
 

Rossymons

Member
Location
Cornwall
Perhaps go 16:32.
But build pit and install stainless for a 20:40.

16:32 should achieve your throughput. I never understand the point in clustetflush or autowash I'd ditch both of those for the extra 4 units and heat detection.

We built for 20/40 but only put in 16/32. Always hated not having those extra units which probably cost next to nothing when you're building the thing.
 

AE01

Member
Livestock Farmer
Perhaps go 16:32.
But build pit and install stainless for a 20:40.

16:32 should achieve your throughput. I never understand the point in clustetflush or autowash I'd ditch both of those for the extra 4 units and heat detection.

Interesting, most of the folk I've spoken to have said that the Clusterflush and Auto wash unit are the two things they wouldn't be without.

For me, i'm leaning towards clusterflush because i have a proportion of the cows on straw yards and manual dunking of clusters in Peracetic acid over the years has more or less eliminated contagious mastitis. At circa £220/point (after the FETF grant) I view it as cheap insurance against mastitis.

As for the Auto-wash unit, at the end of milking I want to be able to press a button and walk away from it and concentrate on swilling out or feeding calves. I also want it to be as simple as possible for my relief milker, and to guarantee consistency of wash cycle when they milk.
 

AE01

Member
Livestock Farmer
20/40, nobody said I wish I could milk the cows slower👍

Easy when you're spending someone else's money :D

Unfortunately its me that's got to foot the bill as well as milk in it

In terms of future-proofing you've got to draw the line somewhere else you end up spending a fortune for a scenario that may never happen
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
Easy when you're spending someone else's money :D

Unfortunately its me that's got to foot the bill as well as milk in it

In terms of future-proofing you've got to draw the line somewhere else you end up spending a fortune for a scenario that may never happen
True, but our 25/50 was only a little more expensive than the 20/40 (ours was clusters only) , would be interesting to quote 16/32 against 20/40🤔
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
Interesting, most of the folk I've spoken to have said that the Clusterflush and Auto wash unit are the two things they wouldn't be without.

For me, i'm leaning towards clusterflush because i have a proportion of the cows on straw yards and manual dunking of clusters in Peracetic acid over the years has more or less eliminated contagious mastitis. At circa £220/point (after the FETF grant) I view it as cheap insurance against mastitis.

As for the Auto-wash unit, at the end of milking I want to be able to press a button and walk away from it and concentrate on swilling out or feeding calves. I also want it to be as simple as possible for my relief milker, and to guarantee consistency of wash cycle when they milk.
Straw yards maybe slightly different.but I view cluster wash as a half solution to a problem. It's preventing an explosion but not removing the bomb.

It takes us about 10 minutes to wash the parlour out after attaching jetters. With the correct routine you can have the wash done in the 10 minutes you're hosing down. You also won't take a fortnight to find the doser isn't working or the water temp isn't quite there.
 

More to life

Member
Location
Somerset
Perhaps go 16:32.
But build pit and install stainless for a 20:40.

16:32 should achieve your throughput. I never understand the point in clustetflush or autowash I'd ditch both of those for the extra 4 units and heat detection.
Cluster flush will halve your bacto and cell count so it's contract dependent. Before you consider it's sizable effect on mastitis.
 

frederick

Member
Location
south west
16:32 you have to have a second vacuum pump which is handy if one is buggered because you can just about milk with one.

cluster flush for us is pretty much a necessity and has had huge positives. Auto wash is about the best time saver available too.
What time can it actually save.
Drums fill up when cleaning units. Open butterfly valves 10 seconds.
Change valves start hot add chemical wait for hot return 90 seconds
Change valves for cold rinse 10 seconds
That's a morning 2 minutes afternoon 10 seconds because it's a cold rinse. 720 minutes a year.
Plus you can leave parlour ready for next milking.
 

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