Herringbone with in shed feeder & poor throughput

[Farmer Keith]

So you dont have any in parlour feeders?
How do you get enough feed into them if you arent feeding any cake? The most you can ever get from forage is about 15kgdm (and that's with feed in front of them at all times being pushed up several times a day) intake which isnt enough for a friesian atleast?

Well off topic here for the OP but a big heap of cake in the parlour will suppress DM intake not increase it, hence why all the high yielding lads have moved to diet feeders or that was my understanding of the move to TMR.

 

[In the pit]

So you dont have any in parlour feeders?
How do you get enough feed into them if you arent feeding any cake? The most you can ever get from forage is about 15kgdm (and that's with feed in front of them at all times being pushed up several times a day) intake which isnt enough for a friesian atleast?

You've got a lot to learn about cow feeding

 

[In the pit]

So you dont have any in parlour feeders?
How do you get enough feed into them if you arent feeding any cake? The most you can ever get from forage is about 15kgdm (and that's with feed in front of them at all times being pushed up several times a day) intake which isnt enough for a friesian atleast?

There not on conserved forage there on grass

 

[In the pit]

Best way to feed concentrates is little and often
Too much twice a day in the parlour can really upset the cows rumen

 

[betweenthelines]

So you dont have any in parlour feeders?
How do you get enough feed into them if you arent feeding any cake? The most you can ever get from forage is about 15kgdm (and that's with feed in front of them at all times being pushed up several times a day) intake which isnt enough for a friesian atleast?

You need to remember this:

Profit = sales-cost of sales

Shovelling expensive cake into cows is not a sure fire route to profit. Lots of farmers do very well feeding low levels of cake and getting milk from grass

 

[Sylution]

I am having some issues with cow throughput in the parlour also. Milk in a 14/28 parlour. With 2 of us milking we can milk 120 in 1hr ish. However on my own it can be an extra 30/40mins. Summer time is no problem and cows wizz through, having roughly 3kg of cake per milking when fresh, and down to 1kg when stale. Now in winter with pre spraying and dry wipe, it just takes time, and then the cows just seem to like wandering out and having a nose in every feeder and then you guessed have a sh1t on their way. Washing this takes time and then the next side is slows down more. The problem of having lazy holstein friesians!!!

 

[box]

What does 14/28 mean? Is it 14 cups on one side and 28 on the other?

Still haven't figured out what cake is......is it just an umbrella term to describe what I would call "meal"? I.e. any sort of concentrate that drops in front of the cow through a feeder.

Surely trying to get 3kg PKE into a cow that’s already full on grass is only ever going to slow things down

It makes more milk.

If your cows are "running to the shed" it's a fair bet that they stop grazing a bit earlier to leave room for the meal.

Stop the meal and they'll eat more grass. Bolus for minerals.

If there's grass left behind, it's rubbish. Better off to top it or bale it than stick it in the cow at a time when you expect milk. I've found that there's very little pasture substitution when feeding PKE, it just seems to fit in there somewhere.

Bolus sounds like a bit of a faff.

Re. profitibilty of feeding concentrate : PKE is cheap, PKE makes milk, PKE is profitible (at the moment). Add in minerals, the profit from the PKE pays for the minerals and you still have some left over. I've tried the other rubbish the salesmen sell, it's too expensive.

 

[Sylution]

14 units and 28 cow standing.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

What does 14/28 mean? Is it 14 cups on one side and 28 on the other?

Still haven't figured out what cake is......is it just an umbrella term to describe what I would call "meal"? I.e. any sort of concentrate that drops in front of the cow through a feeder.


It makes more milk.


If there's grass left behind, it's rubbish. Better off to top it or bale it than stick it in the cow at a time when you expect milk.

Northern hemisphere translations..

14/28 is a 14 a side HB

Cake is anything pelleted so you can't see what carp is hidden inside

 

[box]

Oh wow, 14 a side is tiny. I thought sheds like that disappeared in the 80's.

@Sylution have you got cup removers?

 

[Sylution]

Yes. I would not call it tiny.
A 1 man parlour, that when 2 are in there can milk faster and more pleasurable. But 1 can manage easily.

 

[Big_D]

I am having some issues with cow throughput in the parlour also. Milk in a 14/28 parlour. With 2 of us milking we can milk 120 in 1hr ish. However on my own it can be an extra 30/40mins. Summer time is no problem and cows wizz through, having roughly 3kg of cake per milking when fresh, and down to 1kg when stale. Now in winter with pre spraying and dry wipe, it just takes time, and then the cows just seem to like wandering out and having a nose in every feeder and then you guessed have a sh1t on their way. Washing this takes time and then the next side is slows down more. The problem of having lazy holstein friesians!!!

Are you able to shut them away from silage/ feed barrier for a bit before milking, just an hour can make a difference to how well they come through parlour

 

[kiwi pom]

Oh wow, 14 a side is tiny. I thought sheds like that disappeared in the 80's.

@Sylution have you got cup removers?

Now you've upset them some haven't made it up to 14 a side yet.
I used to milk in 5 or 8 a sides when i still lived there in the 90's.
Of course there is an argument to put a smaller shed in and run it for longer hours, usually done in place like the US where the "boss" never milks.

Do you think PKE will still be around in 5 years? It's use does seem to upset some folk.

 

[Canada Farmer]

Morning
I'm not sure what kind of milking sheds/parlours you lot have over there, I assume something a bit more sophisticated than old herringbones & a single set of cups.

Anyway, this is the setup I'm currently working with - 22 cup herringbone with an in shed feed system (continuous bin, not individual bins per "bail", automatic cup removers and automatic teat sprayer. One person can put about 130 cows through per hour at this time of the year (mid summer).

Here's the issue: cups come off, the gate opens, a couple of cows walk out, the third or fourth one can't leave crumbs behind in the feed bin and ths cow holds up the whole row. Cows behind get grumpy, start shittting everywhere, the milker has to leave cupping the cows on the opposite row and move the cows out one by one. Similarly, once you've got the row cleared out, you've got to move every cow into position coming in because they stop and nibble on leftovers from the previous row. It doesn't seem to matter what product or what amount is being fed, there's always something left somewhere. The only way to stop this happening is to completely stop feeding, (which allows me to push over 200 cows through per hour).

I've talked with local parlour builders and feed system installers - no one is really interested in provding a solution, they're too busy making money fitting new systems to care about a small job like this.

My options so far are:
1 - Hinged bins that will fold up out of the way when the gate opens, using vacuum actuators (complicated)
2 - Hinged covers that fold down to cover the bin when the gate opens, using vacuum actuators (complicated)
3 - Flood wash system that clears the bin when the gate opens (easy to make and install but will result in some feed loss)
4 - High voltage chain or wire above the meal bin which energizes when the gate opens (it seems like a bad idea - would probably be a bit of fun though).

Thoughts? I'm leaning towards option 3 at the moment unless there are better options out there.

Don't even consider number 4 in the milking parlour....

 

[Canada Farmer]

Now you've upset them some haven't made it up to 14 a side yet.
I used to milk in 5 or 8 a sides when i still lived there in the 90's.
Of course there is an argument to put a smaller shed in and run it for longer hours, usually done in place like the US where the "boss" never milks.

Do you think PKE will still be around in 5 years? It's use does seem to upset some folk.

Is not PKE a waste product or byproduct?
If people protest its use in the dairy industry, do they also protest where its sourced and what its main use is???

 

[Headless chicken]

Is not PKE a waste product or byproduct?
If people protest its use in the dairy industry, do they also protest where its sourced and what its main use is???

It is but it’s use as a biproduct makes it’s more lucrative for the main product. With that said palm oil is about the most efficient source of oil per acre so it’s a balance. Personally I don’t agree with the use of PK on farm and I choose not to use it.

 

[box]

Now you've upset them

Ooops. I was wondering why it went quiet all of a sudden

The sooner we see a blanket ban on PKE and N use, the better.

 

[Jdunn55]

Ooops. I was wondering why it went quiet all of a sudden

The sooner we see a blanket ban on PKE and N use, the better.

What's pke please? Been trying to work it out all day, I'm guessing something to do with palm oil judging by the above posts?

 

[Beef farmer]

What's pke please? Been trying to work it out all day, I'm guessing something to do with palm oil judging by the above posts?

Palm Kernel Expeller

 

[Jdunn55]

Palm Kernel Expeller

Is that like the shells/husks after theyve extracted the oil from it?