It's been a long winter☺
Once a day milking
- Thread starter Stinker
- Start date
So we made a small experimental once a day group. A few thin low yielders and about 20 fresh cows with 20 or so to add during the next few days. Early signs are good. No mastitis and cows seem relaxed. Fresh cows yielding about 25-30 litres. 1 doing 36 litres this morning.
Will be interesting to see milk solids and if they maintain yield going forward.
Will be interesting to see milk solids and if they maintain yield going forward.
Clay52
Member
- Location
- Outer Space
What would you normally expect out of fresh cows.
- Location
- Northumberland
Went to a farm in NZ on 1x day milking. He said yield had dropped by 15% so he was milking 15% extra cows 
FonterraFarmer
Member
- Location
- Waikato, New Zealand
That might happen here with the cows outside and primarily on grass, would expect that to be lower in the UK with more supplement fed.Went to a farm in NZ on 1x day milking. He said yield had dropped by 15% so he was milking 15% extra cows
Seems a fair commentWent to a farm in NZ on 1x day milking. He said yield had dropped by 15% so he was milking 15% extra cows
newholland
Member
- Location
- England
Out of interest......imagine a sound herd of H/F @8500lts. What would be the quickest / most cost efficient route to get to once a day milking?......Is it better to just sell them in one hit + then buy another herd over night.
Any other food for thought ideas?
Any other food for thought ideas?
The quickest and most cost efficient would be sell and buy. They only issue is there seems to be a lot of emotion attached to cows.
I'm not sure we would go once a day I just wanted to see if it was possible with a very high pli holstein. Early signs are they won't explode and their udders are capable of carrying a lot of milk. Because the grazing period will not be long I want something that will milk on in the winter when inside. Getting them back in calf might be a problem though, we will have to see.
40-50 litres but I'm not feeding the once a day cows much in comparison.
Sorry, but I didn't realise the cows you are using. If what your doing got in the press, then you'd have to take the rap on the chin. My personal feeling towards this is that your a fool, and almost being cruel to a cow that YOU have bred to produce a large volume of milk. For some reason I imagined you where a 5500 litre spring calver.
Clay52
Member
- Location
- Outer Space
That would hurt me. That extra 25lt is easy money vs once a day.
Kiss
Member
- Location
- North west
Should be easier they're energy demand is much lower
Not as much as it will be paining the cow.
kiwi pom
Member
- Location
- canterbury NZ
How about 16 hour milkings (3 in 2 days) seems to be popular round here.
I don't think they do it all season, but most I talk to prefer it to going once a day.
I don't think they do it all season, but most I talk to prefer it to going once a day.
I'm not sure if you joking or not. I can assure you if I thought it was cruel I wouldn't do it. A holstein cow can can comfortably do these sorts of yields per milking on twice a day. My experiment was to see how they would behave if you gave them any easy ride. Obviously if they loose weight etc I will stop but early indications are the opposite. I'm hoping they will do 5000 litres. I'm not sure if that is foolish or not.
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Surely if milking once a day you've got to get the right cow for the system?
buffalo_soldier
Member
- Location
- cumbria
There were studies done a few years back oad'ing holsteins. Dutch i think, didnt end well.
If they are bred for more and your feeding and milking them for less you go straight into energy deficiency and then a few months later you get the problems.
A cow bred and raised for oad would thrive, whereas that animal would not like to be milked 2x at all.
They are 2 different animals, that's my (hopefully less blunt than beefys) take on it anyway.
It's all relative a 400kg jersey with 20 litres in its udder is no different to a 700kg holstein with 30 litres in the udder. I can assure you that they are not in pain. Quite the opposite. They are much keener to go back out after milking. Studies have already been done on milking fresh cows once a day and all have shown increased cow health with no more cases of mastitis. I expect the break even point to be around 4500-5000 litres. There are plenty of twice day holstein herds giving 10000 litres plus so milk in the udder is not an issue believe me.