Parlour size for one-man set-up 140 cows

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
And what caused the staph problem
Normally caused by incorrectly set up parlour
I have greatly reduced the rate of infection,had a staph outbreak which is cow to cow infection. If you don't have mastitis ,cells or a bacto problem then of course cluster flush redundant. Earlier you mentioned culling high cell count cows i'd rather not have any.
 

pappuller

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
M6 Hard shoulder
Hi all,

Looking at options to upgrade our ageing parlour.

Want to be able to milk 140 cows as a one-man set up in preferably no more than 90 mins, plus wash down time, without feeling jet-lagged at the end of it. Herd size unlikely to grow beyond this but would like to build some flexibility into the setup should the opportunity arise.

Looking at a fairly comprehensive spec to achieve the above (Auto ID, Feed to Yield, Cluster Flush, Auto Seg Gate, Auto Wash), but still a bit unsure on number of units.

Parlour engineer initially recommended 12/24 but my gut feeling is it will not be big enough to achieve the milking time savings I need. Recently milked in a 20/40 which I felt was overkill for one-operator with slower loading/unloading times and lots of units sat doing nothing half the time.

Thinking perhaps a 16/32 might be a good compromise?

Would appreciate any thoughts and experience from the TFF collective.

Thanks in advance,

p.s. the budget is not limitless so no daft suggestions please!
What sort of yields ?
System ?
Block or ayr ?
 

Devon lad

Member
Location
Mid Devon
Exactly. I watched one work. Went on for ages and seemed to stop and start the vacuum pump a lot. Also it’s something else to go
Most I know of take about 45 minutes from start to finish. That's not to say the vacuum pump is on all the time
Been set up by a numpty then ours takes about 10-15 minutes 24/48 parlour
 
Just to get back to the what size conundrum, I’m interested to know why it is that a lot of you have said 20/40 (and I ask this as someone who milks in an abreast so no experience) and yet if I think of one man herringbones near me, the guy in the 12/24 gets on just fine, the guy in the 15/30 struggled and has now added some automation and gets on fine but the guy in the 16/32 basic parlour couldn’t keep up and has now extended the parlour and milks with two people!

Does it just come down to individual routine? Is there a compromise between speed and hygiene that comes with parlour size?
 

O'Reilly

Member
Depends on routine, pre dip etc soon slows you down, but is likely necessary for straw yards. Also, are you a quick mover? Sounds dumb, but if you aren't, then a 20/40 is a waste of money, is also more parlour to wash down as well. Despite what has been said, building a 20/40 and putting 12 units in wouldn't be the daftest idea.
 

AE01

Member
Livestock Farmer
Depends on routine, pre dip etc soon slows you down, but is likely necessary for straw yards. Also, are you a quick mover? Sounds dumb, but if you aren't, then a 20/40 is a waste of money, is also more parlour to wash down as well. Despite what has been said, building a 20/40 and putting 12 units in wouldn't be the daftest idea.

Currently pre-dip, dry wipe, attach then post dipping with barrier dip so fairly comprehensive routine. SCC's under 100 and bacto sub 10 which I want to maintain so that im comfortably within the parameters of our Arla 360 contract.

Yes I can move pretty quick when milking, current parlour features no automation (not even ACR's) so I've got used to going hell for leather when milking. Relief milker wont move as quick as I do though and i want milking to be a more relaxed affair than at present.
 
Currently pre-dip, dry wipe, attach then post dipping with barrier dip so fairly comprehensive routine. SCC's under 100 and bacto sub 10 which I want to maintain so that im comfortably within the parameters of our Arla 360 contract.

Yes I can move pretty quick when milking, current parlour features no automation (not even ACR's) so I've got used to going hell for leather when milking. Relief milker wont move as quick as I do though and i want milking to be a more relaxed affair than at present.
On that routine I don't think I'd want any more than 12/24
 

Jdunn55

Member
My 2 pennies worth

I can just about milk 100 cows in an hour with the 10:20 here BUT that involves me running around like a mad man and no slow cows coming in opposite to eachother, no fidgety heifers or 5 fresh cows on the same side etc. However I could do 75 cows an hour with my eyes closed

I would love something like a 15:30 BUT imo, if you're doing the yields you are with the teat prep you are, you would need some sort of help via automation with something like adf clusters, you would easily do 100 an hour then imo. I've milked in a 14:28 and found it was too big for one person without any help from equipment which led to cows not walking out, qnd shitting everywhere which in turn led to me having to wash down which in turn led to more sh!t (the more you use a volume washer while milking the more sh!t is made imo)

I love the clusterflush. As an example I have one cow who has high scc, she's going as a cull cow when she finishes her lactation (still milking well) because of the clusterflush she's much less likely to be passing that to other cows in the parlour

Auto wash is awesome I don't care what anyone says, you're all welcome to your opinions but mine is that auto wash should be included on all new parlours and I miss that feature the most from the 14:28 I said about
 

dinderleat

Member
Location
Wells
20/40 no brainer up to you what level of automation but acr’s a minimum we’ve a 24/24 2hrs for 150 with pre spray and dry wipe, we have got cluster flush which seems to have helped
 

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