abreast parlours

[jimmer]

i have just noticed that this thread was your first post on the forum , well you have my undivided attention

jimmer secretly hopes that vulcan is female and looking for a parlour soulmate


shut up you silly man you are married and have another baby on the way

 

[FonterraFarmer]

are they still in use or mothballed

i like nothing more than a good stint in abreast parlours

No , both twin pit herringbones are in use.
As for the other establishments, they I not frequent.

 

[Philip Watkins]

As for the other establishments, they I not frequent.

Abreast parlour is not another name for a bordello.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Abreast parlour is not another name for a bordello.

I don't know, whats a bordello??? Why do you use such complicated and foreign sounding words???
Maybe we should stay "on topic"

 

[Philip Watkins]

I don't know, whats a bordello??? Why do you use such complicated and foreign sounding words???
Maybe we should stay "on topic"

My dictionary says bordello = a brothel = (in your language) a breast parlour.

 

[Happy hillbily]

Here's ours, originaly a second hand milking bail that was concreted in back in the 70s, it was replaced in the mid nineties with what you see now, built by a local lad who had just started his own fabrication business. Very simple everything mandraulic, desperately needs the milk and vaccum lines upgraded as taking 2.5 hrs to milk 55 cows in June/July . a pleasure to milk in, on sunny days, a bloody nightmare in winter @ -16c and sno

 

[RobFZS]

Here's ours, originaly a second hand milking bail that was concreted in back in the 70s, it was replaced in the mid nineties with what you see now, built by a local lad who had just started his own fabrication business. Very simple everything mandraulic, desperately needs the milk and vaccum lines upgraded as taking 2.5 hrs to milk 55 cows in June/July . a pleasure to milk in, on sunny days, a bloody nightmare in winter @ -16c and sno

fixed it for ya

What suprises me is the amount of people still milking under 100 cows, all i hear is the average herd size is 140 cows, must be the exception because everyone i know is around 100

 

[multi power]

having done only a handfull of milkings in an abreast, 35 cows, from what i see a cheap n reasonably efficent way to milk say 100 cows would be 20 stalls, 10 clusters n direct to line, my thinking , you dont need to wait for jars to empty n dont need to bring one cow in at a time, n also unlike a herringbone slow cows wont slow things down

 

[Happy hillbily]

View attachment 65556

fixed it for ya

What suprises me is the amount of people still milking under 100 cows, all i hear is the average herd size is 140 cows, must be the exception because everyone i know is around 100

Thanks, just moved house and not got the pc up and running yet, trying to do it on the phone.

 

[chaffcutter]

Our first parlour was a 8 cow bail dropped onto precast step work and roofed back to the collecting yard. Started as an 8/4 then progressed to 8/8, then auto feeders, then acrs, really liked milking in it and the cows were quieter and more docile than later on when we put a new herringbone in

in the bad winter (?93 or so) the milk was freezing in the pipes on the way to the dairy and it was so cold that even with heaters on all night everything was frozen up in the mornings

 

[newholland]

But how do you go faster? I can do 40 per hour - thats full prep and really working hard.
We can get 50 per hour with 2 people, but that is not cost effective.
Its the waiting time for individual cows to leave and individual cows to enter?
Also it wears you out. I am physicaly tired from the constant walking.
Cows falling off, cows climbing under each other "coz they only like certain standings"
New animals are just a nightmare - we actualy have a building with a huge step in it to train them to climb before they reach the parlour for the first time - this really helps.
Cows banging the feeders to bits certainly keeps ATL in business

Happy Hillbily - gosh I feel for you! how do you manage to stop the rest of the herd from attacking the cows being milked? - always seem to have waiting cows climbing under other cows being milked and then running away with a tangle of clusters / pipes / acr string round their heads which takes ages to wash and put back together.

 

[Princess Pooper]

- always seem to have waiting cows climbing under other cows being milked and then running away with a tangle of clusters / pipes / acr string round their heads which takes ages to wash and put back together.

We don't let the next cow in 'til there's a stall free, but that is the luxury of 70 cows v 115!. Milk is obviously let go at the same time as the cow, so by the time the new cow is on the stall, pre-dipped, wiped and fed then all is ready to go. If we get an extra one charging in she's scooted out to prevent the probs you describe. We start heifers off on their own for about the first 6 milkings the same reason, bit of a pain but probably quicker in the long run. Back to the step - using a gate as I described above, after 2 milkings there are very few that don't go up easily.
We do feed parlour cake, which obviously helps

 

[arf]

115 x 8000lt cows through here twice a day. 4hrs a go and no chance of a relief milker!
Was 6 and in 1992 extended to 8. Changed to 7 gallon jars and raised stall work.
Feeding, acrs, cluster spray, vacume gates.
I have done 15 years in here so far.
Can't wait to drive an 18ton jcb through the lot, it will be the best day of my life. One day........
New dairy floor and outdoor 13,000 milk silo.

Best I bring you two robots when I call by on thursday !

 

[newholland]

I would bite your hand off. Concrete and drains are ready in place, 3phase distrubution board on the wall. No money and no grass is the problem.

 

[jimmer]

@Happy hillbily you have the right idea , open backed so they 'let themselves in'
@newholland are there cows finished before you get time to let them go , if so then i would say the process in between is in need of tweaking , is your pre routine too time consuming ?
theoretically it should take approx six minutes to milk out each cow , if you allow 1 minute per cow to let out, let in, prep, and put on , that would be 60 an hour through a 6 stall

 

[Happy hillbily]

[QUOTE="
Happy Hillbily - gosh I feel for you! how do you manage to stop the rest of the herd from attacking the cows being milked? - always seem to have waiting cows climbing under other cows being milked and then running away with a tangle of clusters / pipes / acr string round their heads which takes ages to wash and put back together.[/QUOTE]

I don't have the cows waiting in the yard behind the cows being milked.
used to do it that way, until we started keeping brown swisses/ crosses.
bloomin things are like greyhounds out of a trap when any sort of food is involved, pushing and shoving heads under the cows being milked etc.
cows wait in a yard to the side, and we let them through the personnel door one by one (much safer),try to do the cows in pairs I recon it saves 30-40 seconds a pair doesn't always work though, getting the cows from the side yard probably ads about 10-15 minutes to a milking but a lot less hassle. cows exit straight back into another yard so exit times are fairly quick, except for the few jerseys we have , they insist hoovering up every single last piece of cake before exiting, and will re check they haven't missed any a few times before leaving !

 

[multi power]

[QUOTE="
Happy Hillbily - gosh I feel for you! how do you manage to stop the rest of the herd from attacking the cows being milked? - always seem to have waiting cows climbing under other cows being milked and then running away with a tangle of clusters / pipes / acr string round their heads which takes ages to wash and put back together.

I don't have the cows waiting in the yard behind the cows being milked.
used to do it that way, until we started keeping brown swisses/ crosses.
bloomin things are like greyhounds out of a trap when any sort of food is involved, pushing and shoving heads under the cows being milked etc.
cows wait in a yard to the side, and we let them through the personnel door one by one (much safer),try to do the cows in pairs I recon it saves 30-40 seconds a pair doesn't always work though, getting the cows from the side yard probably ads about 10-15 minutes to a milking but a lot less hassle. cows exit straight back into another yard so exit times are fairly quick, except for the few jerseys we have , they insist hoovering up every single last piece of cake before exiting, and will re check they haven't missed any a few times before leaving !

View attachment 65821[/QUOTE]

if you could extend than n have twice as many stalls, still 6 clusters , it would be a lot quicker n much easier too

 

[jondear]

having done only a handfull of milkings in an abreast, 35 cows, from what i see a cheap n reasonably efficent way to milk say 100 cows would be 20 stalls, 10 clusters n direct to line, my thinking , you dont need to wait for jars to empty n dont need to bring one cow in at a time, n also unlike a herringbone slow cows wont slow things down

Yes it called a shippon .not many about now .anyone know any still in use ?we had 14 in a line all yoked up and direct line .

 

[vulcan]

will get pictures of mine and details up some time when find me camera

 

[RobFZS]

Yes it called a shippon .not many about now .anyone know any still in use ?we had 14 in a line all yoked up and direct line .

mates uncle had one untill last year, only was milking about 3 cows, converted it to another normal shed now, we have one ish, but there's no milking lines to it