Milking Parlour’s Upgrade Dilemma

[Half Full]

Looking for opinions on my current parlour upgrade plan, a bit of background we currently milk in a eleven rear old 32/32 Delaval herringbone parlour, Auto I’d, Auto Seg. We do a full routine regards prep and achieve good results and always have two people milking, throughput is about 100 cows an hour depending on who’s milking, they are waiting a fair bit of time especially in the mornings, the majority of our concentrate is fed through the parlour so the cows come in well but are sluggish to exit in the winter months. Calving is nearly AYR at the moment and we have 500 cows so milking is taking to long, I’ve looked at and priced a 50 point rotary very expensive, complicated and when doing a full routine throughput is about 75 cows an hour per man so my current plan is to either shorten our parlour back to a 24/24 and put another 24/24 beside it or put in two 16/32 parlours with one man in each parlour, thoughts would be very much appreciated. Ps i am not intending on expanding the herd much due to grazing constraints.

 

[Beef farmer]

2 x 16:32 be okay, but at the moment 2nd person in the parlour doesn't need to be brains of Britain, will that person cope okay on their own?

 

[Half Full]

Fair point, seem to be able to get goodish milkers at the moment so not overly worried about that was more trying to reduce everyone’s working day down to make it easier and also if one parlour goes wrong we can limp on in one parlour.

 

[vantage]

Do you do this full prep ayr, even when I assume cows are at grass? I can’t see getting another parlour will help much, I think you need to look at your cow cleanliness first.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Of your options id definitely go 16:32 rather than 24:24.

I’d be taking a second look at the rotary though for 500
Cows.

 

[Half Full]

I have to take down another shed and rebuild it to do this so the new shed was going to be wide enough to accommodate a rotary if plans changed drastically in the future,

 

[Barmyfarmer]

Could you not just put in a 40/80 with 2 men?

 

[Half Full]

Could do but think loading and unloading would be a major problem with lazy milking cows.

 

[Barmyfarmer]

Could do but think loading and unloading would be a major problem with lazy milking cows.

Valid point, sequential baling? Blocks the feed trough off on the way in and out

 

[iitc123]

Valid point, sequential baling? Blocks the feed trough off on the way in and out

Got a 20:40 sequential baling putting 280 cows through atm with 1 1/2 men (1/2 bedding down)
When 2 in parlour 1 preps and pushes cows through 1 milks, you can get a lot of cows through (probably empty in 60seconds) but you half-to keep them moving!
In summer there is less/no prep and the run out to fresh grass so 1 milks easy!
If we get numbers up to 350-400 would extend to 28:46 and two men full time, probably stick with one in summer tho...

40:80 sequential bailing with 2 men should get 5 sides through in an hour?

 

[Beef farmer]

40:80 sequential bailing with 2 men should get 5 sides through in an hour?

With full prep?

 

[iitc123]

With full prep?

Depends on cow breed, how clean ect. but you would be doing well!
Rotary only way to get 200/250 cows through an hour with 2 men tho, bet a simple 44point wouldn't be much more than a 40:80 sequential bailing with a few extras actually ??‍

 

[buffalo_soldier]

I prefer the 2 16:32 option if a rotary is a no go.

Could even share some feeders if positioned cleverly.
Might need more room on exit though, as dropping 2 sides out at once rather than 1.

Be a fair old milking if someone called in sick though!

 

[frederick]

Why spend any money. Stop using a few units at the back. 1 man full routine should still manage 90 plus cows an hour then split shift milking one person does first 3 hours second does the next three.
You still maximise output per man and avoid spending 250k

 

[Blue.]

Of your options id definitely go 16:32 rather than 24:24.

I’d be taking a second look at the rotary though for 500
Cows.

My 15/30 was faster than my 24/24 and a far better 1 man parlour.

Could do but think loading and unloading would be a major problem with lazy milking cows.

That’s what slows down my 32/64,used to feed in old parlour they were slow to exit as always looking in other cows troughs,now there just slow full stop.

 

[Half Full]

My 15/30 was faster than my 24/24 and a far better 1 man parlour.



That’s what slows down my 32/64,used to feed in old parlour they were slow to exit as always looking in other cows troughs,now there just slow full stop.

We don’t have a wagon or group cows so cows are fed individual quantities of cake in the parlour which does slow down exiting for sure, but seems to work well from a simplicity point and view and is profitable.

 

[Half Full]

Why spend any money. Stop using a few units at the back. 1 man full routine should still manage 90 plus cows an hour then split shift milking one person does first 3 hours second does the next three.
You still maximise output per man and avoid spending 250k

Because I don’t think long term finding people to work very early or late shifts is going to be easy, also cows need bringing to the parlour and scraping out so it would be two on early/late shifts not just one to avoid standing them for to long.

 

[Half Full]

I prefer the 2 16:32 option if a rotary is a no go.

Could even share some feeders if positioned cleverly.
Might need more room on exit though, as dropping 2 sides out at once rather than 1.

Be a fair old milking if someone called in sick though!

Rotary was dismissed because for the spec we needed I’d struggle to do it for less than 600k nearly double what I can do a double herringbone for, also to do our routine correctly I would need 3 people and then the output per person is similar.

 

[Milkcow365]

Rotary was dismissed because for the spec we needed I’d struggle to do it for less than 600k nearly double what I can do a double herringbone for, also to do our routine correctly I would need 3 people and then the output per person is similar.

What about a 40:40 rapid exit ? 2 man job ?

 

[dinderleat]

What about milking less cows cull the worst performing 20%