New parlour

[miniconnect]

The most sensible post on here. The lad is in his early thirties father 65
When foot and mouth came in 2001 his dad told him he better find a job away. He joined the army for 9 years. Came home and is making a go of running his little family farm. Currently milking in an ancient abreast parlour for 3 hours each end of day. Decided to invest a bit in a new parlour and slurry storage and just to pee off the ones who know best he is ONLY putting in a 8/16 but making it big enough to go to a 10/20
It’s what he can afford. Putting it where some cubicles are and putting cubicles in silage clamp and has a new outside clamp already
Not everyone is factory farming cows inside all year round !

I've no idea what dimensions things will be, that'll be for parlour engineers to say, but make sure there's plenty space where the cows come out the parlour, enough space for a whole side to come out, stand if they want then wander away.
We don't have enough, ours come out, then have to do quite a sharp turn back to cubicles, you end up spending a bit of time chasing them out.

 

[vantage]

10/20 is so 1960's

Nothing wrong with "retro" !

 

[DocPhil001]

PM me if you still need dimensions. I am putting in a 20/20 would be the same size pit!

 

[Tarw Coch]

IIRC cow standings are six foot six for fifty degree, five foot six for thirty degree, pit width is a variable which may be dictated in an existing building and also a matter of personal preference as is pit depth.
Cow centres are two foot six at fifty degree, about three foot at thirty degree, someone with better mathematical ability than me would work out the extra length needed in the cow standings to allow for the length of the first cow standing at an angle but for a ball park figure about four foot. I wouldn’t want to allow less than eight foot at front of parlour for cows going out so for a 10:20 that would be a minimum of forty two feet at thirty degree, thirty seven feet at fifty degree, probably need to allow a bit more than that on the back too for back gates plus you don’t really want the pit ending at the last cow, you want a bit of spare room to step back so perhaps add another three foot there.
It then depends how you design the back of the parlour, presumably steps will be wanted up to the collecting yard, ours the pit draws to a point with three concrete steps up which add about another four feet to the total length, drawing the pit in at the end forms a nice flow in for the cows, assuming the parlour is left open to the collecting yard.
If I had the chance to build mine again I would want to be able to shut the parlour off from the collecting yard with a door purely for frost protection which means the side walls will need to be longer than the total length of the pit including any steps.

Don’t know if that helps @BobGreen , probably means you need to go back to customer and find out exactly what he’s putting in and what he wants before you can draw up a quote.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Nothing wrong with "retro" !

I don't want to go back that far!!!

 

[BobGreen]

IIRC cow standings are six foot six for fifty degree, five foot six for thirty degree, pit width is a variable which may be dictated in an existing building and also a matter of personal preference as is pit depth.
Cow centres are two foot six at fifty degree, about three foot at thirty degree, someone with better mathematical ability than me would work out the extra length needed in the cow standings to allow for the length of the first cow standing at an angle but for a ball park figure about four foot. I wouldn’t want to allow less than eight foot at front of parlour for cows going out so for a 10:20 that would be a minimum of forty two feet at thirty degree, thirty seven feet at fifty degree, probably need to allow a bit more than that on the back too for back gates plus you don’t really want the pit ending at the last cow, you want a bit of spare room to step back so perhaps add another three foot there.
It then depends how you design the back of the parlour, presumably steps will be wanted up to the collecting yard, ours the pit draws to a point with three concrete steps up which add about another four feet to the total length, drawing the pit in at the end forms a nice flow in for the cows, assuming the parlour is left open to the collecting yard.
If I had the chance to build mine again I would want to be able to shut the parlour off from the collecting yard with a door purely for frost protection which means the side walls will need to be longer than the total length of the pit including any steps.

Don’t know if that helps @BobGreen , probably means you need to go back to customer and find out exactly what he’s putting in and what he wants before you can draw up a quote.

Many thanks for that comprehensive post. I’m going to get plans off dealer ( Close’s ) tomorrow to be able to work out a price. Last ones we did were both 16 cows / side

 

[Tarw Coch]

Many thanks for that comprehensive post. I’m going to get plans off dealer ( Close’s ) tomorrow to be able to work out a price. Last ones we did were both 16 cows / side

I’m sure the dealer will give you all th detail you need, only thing that might catch you out, as it did with us, will the outside walls be long enough should the customer wish to close a door accross the back, I didn’t consider it until we had frosty weather, had I known what I know now they’d be 5 foot longer to a point just beyond the steps.

 

[Princess Pooper]

I’m sure the dealer will give you all th detail you need, only thing that might catch you out, as it did with us, will the outside walls be long enough should the customer wish to close a door accross the back, I didn’t consider it until we had frosty weather, had I known what I know now they’d be 5 foot longer to a point just beyond the steps.

Yes that door across the back is pretty damn useful when it's -7 and you don't want to freeze up overnight, or when it's blowing a freezing hooley, those rumens can be useful heaters ! Even in the SW they suffered in Beast From the East.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

The most sensible post on here. The lad is in his early thirties father 65
When foot and mouth came in 2001 his dad told him he better find a job away. He joined the army for 9 years. Came home and is making a go of running his little family farm. Currently milking in an ancient abreast parlour for 3 hours each end of day. Decided to invest a bit in a new parlour and slurry storage and just to pee off the ones who know best he is ONLY putting in a 8/16 but making it big enough to go to a 10/20
It’s what he can afford. Putting it where some cubicles are and putting cubicles in silage clamp and has a new outside clamp already
Not everyone is factory farming cows inside all year round !

I think what everyone is trying to say is make it as big as you can to keep your milking times reasonable and allow for future expansion. Obviously cost and space will be the deciding factor but I’ve seen so many suffer for decades just to save a couple thousand upfront.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

I’m all about this kind of stuff

.

Basic homemade stall work and gates with new or late model units and system in it that flows well. One barn I milked in was built entirely of 5/16 wall used oilfield pipe bought for $1.15/ft. Spend the money where it counts.

 

[coomoo]

Put 10/20 in 5 years ago. Just put it in two bays - 40 ft although that does leave space for a couple more units.

 

[vantage]

I’m all about this kind of stuff

.

Basic homemade stall work and gates with new or late model units and system in it that flows well. One barn I milked in was built entirely of 5/16 wall used oilfield pipe bought for $1.15/ft. Spend the money where it counts.

That is a noisy parlour,even with no radio!

 

[jimmer]

My only advice is this , make the pit wide enough to double the units up one day possibly
Anything up to a 12,24 is economical to double up , after that it's not
If you make the pit really narrow you are stuck

 

[organicguy]

My only advice is this , make the pit wide enough to double the units up one day possibly
Anything up to a 12,24 is economical to double up , after that it's not
If you make the pit really narrow you are stuck

Most important thing to think carefully about is drains and falls!

 

[Fergieman]

When we put our parlour in the measurements were 2m - 2m - 2m (6m wall to wall with 2m wide pit)

 

[Badshot]

Does no one put it 16-16, or 24-24 type parlours now?
All the ones I used in my younger days had the same units as standings

 

[Fergieman]

Does no one put it 16-16, or 24-24 type parlours now?
All the ones I used in my younger days had the same units as standings

Yes. We went from a 16-16 to a 28-28. It was more what we could fit in the exisiting building, as there wasn't room for a longer pit to have a swingover.

 

[watcher72]

80/160 1 side bish bash bosh. Pub time

I had a vet studnet do a calving with us, she was mustard and i offered her a job to stay and become a herdswoman, understandably she wanted to continue her studies to become a vet, but my herdsman is earning more than my vet....... if you learn a skill in ag, you can.be very much in demand and inturn demand a good wage.

Two points.
I wouldn't want to see my herdsmans in the pub after every milking...

Who decided on your parlour?

I wouldn't take advice from a part time user of a piece of equipment, ie someone that only milks in it couple of times a week.
Neighbour here loves his new parlour , milks twice a week...regular milkers hate it.
Parlour here is used by staff. They are who I consulted when new parlour installed fee years ago.