Herringbone with in shed feeder & poor throughput
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- Start date
Spudley
Member
- Location
- Pembrokeshire
I grew up on PEI, I left just after they finished building the bridge. I go back every 2-3 years and I'm amazed at how few cattle I see out grazing. Maybe a few dry cows or some heifers.
- Location
- Showery S.E. IRL
Probably closest to Wayne....
Wayne sounds like he's from Wexford.
Canada Farmer
Member
- Location
- Showery S.E. IRL
Folklorist Michael Fortune - from Wexford to Newfoundland
We may be 3,000 km from County Wexford, writes folklorist Michael Fortune, but we are still at home.
So I thought I should post an update to this thread in case anyone's interested.
I couldn't get option 4 to work well, there's just too much risk of the electricity touching the metalwork of the shed in a long herringbone setup. Could be easier to set up in a rotary though.
A full scale prototype of option 2 was in the making using folding galvanised pipe framework and plastic/canvas cover, it was looking encouraging but ended up being a bit too complicated for day to day use, it's on the backburner for now. Possible to operate the system from the pit with a wire rope as long as it's spring loaded to take some weight. I suspect the moving flappy bits might upset the cows....maybe they'd get use to it.
I finally got around to setting up option 3 "properly" with 15mm pipe which goes into the feed bin at the very front (so it washes the feed out of the front corner which is particularly hard to reach) and a tap on each side 3/4 of the way down the pit. It's got cable ties and everything, very high tech.
Results have been excellent, just a quick squirt of water is usually enough to get the front cows attention and get her moving along. Once the feed at the front has got wet, it becomes less appealing to those walking behind and the row tends to move out without any fuss. If they're still a bit slow, I can leave the tap on on for about 30 seconds or so which is enough to send a small wave of water down the bin which definitely gets them going. The next row moves into position quicker and better since they're not stopping to eat.
Feed loss is minimal because it doesn't float away in the water, it just gets a bit soggy. Once the next row is in place and fresh feed is dropped, the whole lot gets eaten. Because the feed at the bottom isn't dry, the cows are able to eat their portion faster and cleaner (less crumbs left over).
Got to be careful not to overdo it with the water, if there's a substantial amount of feed left and it gets wet, they wont touch it and you just end up with more or more soggy sh!t in the bin which then has to be shovelled out before the next milking.
It's becoming more common to go whole milkings without any cow shitting in the bail area because the flow is so much better. Less stress for the operator, happier animals, everyone wins.
Being early Spring, I can't really tell what this all means for the amount of cows I can milk per hour since I spend a lot of time twiddling my thumbs waiting for the cows to milk out. I'll put some more numbers up later in the season if I remember. So far it's looking very encouraging.
I couldn't get option 4 to work well, there's just too much risk of the electricity touching the metalwork of the shed in a long herringbone setup. Could be easier to set up in a rotary though.
A full scale prototype of option 2 was in the making using folding galvanised pipe framework and plastic/canvas cover, it was looking encouraging but ended up being a bit too complicated for day to day use, it's on the backburner for now. Possible to operate the system from the pit with a wire rope as long as it's spring loaded to take some weight. I suspect the moving flappy bits might upset the cows....maybe they'd get use to it.
I finally got around to setting up option 3 "properly" with 15mm pipe which goes into the feed bin at the very front (so it washes the feed out of the front corner which is particularly hard to reach) and a tap on each side 3/4 of the way down the pit. It's got cable ties and everything, very high tech.
Results have been excellent, just a quick squirt of water is usually enough to get the front cows attention and get her moving along. Once the feed at the front has got wet, it becomes less appealing to those walking behind and the row tends to move out without any fuss. If they're still a bit slow, I can leave the tap on on for about 30 seconds or so which is enough to send a small wave of water down the bin which definitely gets them going. The next row moves into position quicker and better since they're not stopping to eat.
Feed loss is minimal because it doesn't float away in the water, it just gets a bit soggy. Once the next row is in place and fresh feed is dropped, the whole lot gets eaten. Because the feed at the bottom isn't dry, the cows are able to eat their portion faster and cleaner (less crumbs left over).
Got to be careful not to overdo it with the water, if there's a substantial amount of feed left and it gets wet, they wont touch it and you just end up with more or more soggy sh!t in the bin which then has to be shovelled out before the next milking.
It's becoming more common to go whole milkings without any cow shitting in the bail area because the flow is so much better. Less stress for the operator, happier animals, everyone wins.
Being early Spring, I can't really tell what this all means for the amount of cows I can milk per hour since I spend a lot of time twiddling my thumbs waiting for the cows to milk out. I'll put some more numbers up later in the season if I remember. So far it's looking very encouraging.
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Yes, water flows into the front corner of the feed bin (to wash out any hard to reach feed) in front of the 1st cow, flows down the bin and eventually runs out the back end.
Teat sprayer is a walkover Technipharm SST....it has its limits but on the whole it does the job well (without using too much teat spray).
Currently getting 148 cows through per hour on my own, can push it up to 170 if I'm in the mood.
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