Rotary parlour help please!

[PREES]

Well we have installed our new rotary parlour to replace our herringbone but we need some advice please.
How do we train the cows to come off the platform and to discourage them from trying to go back on!

We tried hanging some barrels tonight but it didn't work particularly well and they (we think the noise and movement) were putting off the cows going onto the platform.

Cow flow onto the platform is ok for the first 2/3 rds of the cows but a bit of a challenge for the last 1/3rd so we don't want to do anything to put them off!

We have milked on it 5 times so early days but we would appreciate some ideas to speed the learning process!

The good news is that once they are on they are really content and we seem to have stopped the torrents of sh!t that characterised our old parlour over recent years.

 

[TheRanger]

Electric shocker

 

[PREES]

Electric shocker

This has been suggested but we were afraid of upsetting them too much and creating another problem like poor flow onto the platform? We would really welcome other people's experience! Are we worrying too much?

 

[TheRanger]

Are they fed on the rotary? Shockers are commonplace in robots, as far as I know, for removing the cow.

 

[PREES]

Yes fed on the Rotary!

 

[Bald Rick]

You’re worrying too much.

How many “off” stalls have you got? We have three with an empty 25l drum on a rope banging in third stall so they get a visual and aural reminder but generally as soon as they feel their arses free of the rump rail, they start backing off.
Keep the speed constant but not too slow.
If you are offering cake, that greatly speeds up on flow.

Backing gates are highly desirable but don’t use it as a weapon

 

[Dead Rabbits]

I assume you have someone on the exit side. We spray the cows front feet with a large hose if they don’t get off. Also have a small water sprayer spraying at cows head at the last exit position and the top cut off of a plastic barrel hanging there.

We do not feed on the rotary but still get repeat riders depending on stage of lactation and time of year. Get it established early on that it’s not ok to stay and they will pick it up. Leave it and you can quickly have 20% of your stalls occupied by cronic ride arounds. Cows like to ride on rotaries.

We always run 10-20% twice around to maximize efficiency so I don’t see how a shocker would work.


Heifers are more likely to get off, turn around and come back on.

 

[PREES]

We have 3 and a half off gates.

How does the speed influence getting cows off and staying off.

Cow flow on over the last couple of metres is fine, if they stop it is as at about 2 cow lengths from the platform. We walked them the exit race on the first cole of milkings and then moved them over to a temporary lengthened entry race over the last three milkings. We have a backing gate to move over from the old parlour if required but it is cow off flow that is the biggest worry.

 

[cull cows]

I saw one place that used to fire compressed air at there face to make them go backwards

 

[Grassman247]

You need a donker and a rubber mat

compressed air, water sprayers and hanging barrels cows will just play with them in the end and stand looking at you

electric shockers are a big no no as if it touches the metalwork every cow on the platform will get a shock

 

[Bald Rick]

We have 3 and a half off gates.

How does the speed influence getting cows off and staying off.

Cow flow on over the last couple of metres is fine, if they stop it is as at about 2 cow lengths from the platform. We walked them the exit race on the first cole of milkings and then moved them over to a temporary lengthened entry race over the last three milkings. We have a backing gate to move over from the old parlour if required but it is cow off flow that is the biggest worry.

Imagine stepping backwards off an escalator or worse, one of those moving walkways. There is a sweet spot where you'd be comfortable.
To keep them off, a steady flow of cows does that as they tend to move each other especially if there isn't too great a bottleneck for the exit although it is highly desirable to mat any turns to help against white line disease and to aid comfort.

I would think a backing gate will help onflow

And don't worry. Within a week or so, both you & the cows will be comfortable with the set up. It's new to all of you

 

[PREES]

We have relocated matts from the herringbone so hopefully we are ok there!
This morning, with the aid of a hose pipe pointing down on exit stall no 2 seemed to be better.
We are finding that the first 150 cows are flying on but we do have a few awkward b******s in the second 150 that are standing in the entry point to the race and as soon as you go to get them in they turn around, upset all the others and head off down the collecting yard!
Do we rig up a longer race again or pull out a few difficult cows until the others are trained or do we set up some gates to hold 30 cows close to the entry point and get them in in batches??? Don't want to create bad habits!
Right now milking is a four person job so hope it gets better soon!

 

[Bald Rick]

We have relocated matts from the herringbone so hopefully we are ok there!
This morning, with the aid of a hose pipe pointing down on exit stall no 2 seemed to be better.
We are finding that the first 150 cows are flying on but we do have a few awkward b******s in the second 150 that are standing in the entry point to the race and as soon as you go to get them in they turn around, upset all the others and head off down the collecting yard!
Do we rig up a longer race again or pull out a few difficult cows until the others are trained or do we set up some gates to hold 30 cows close to the entry point and get them in in batches??? Don't want to create bad habits!
Right now milking is a four person job so hope it gets better soon!

We've all been there.
Moving from robots where the cows milked themselves to a "forced" milking system was a challenge for about a week and was a multi person job. Now we have 2 in the parlour & one fetching/bedding.
Even heifers are no problem. We think they actually enjoy being spun around. It's the stopping they hate. Stop the parlour, cue the sh!t ...

 

[PREES]

@Bald Rick I hope you right! Did you use a long race to get them on? Thinking of welding some hinges along the collecting yard posts to help us close them down into sub groups in the later stages of milking

 

[Headless chicken]

We've all been there.
Moving from robots where the cows milked themselves to a "forced" milking system was a challenge for about a week and was a multi person job. Now we have 2 in the parlour & one fetching/bedding.
Even heifers are no problem. We think they actually enjoy being spun around. It's the stopping they hate. Stop the parlour, cue the sh!t ...

do you have anyone at cups off? Or just reliant on the computer to know they’re milked out? Our parlour guy is adamant you need someone on cups off

 

[Bald Rick]

@Bald Rick I hope you right! Did you use a long race to get them on? Thinking of welding some hinges along the collecting yard posts to help us close them down into sub groups in the later stages of milking

NO don't restrict the on access

Our collecting yard is 16m wide but towards the on, we have guide rails and the cows cannot see those coming off or those off seeing those on - note the backing gate.

Squeeze gaps are essential for rapid access to the cows - both on & off

Note mats on any turns & how the exit race is blanked so they cannot see cows in collecting yard

 

[Bald Rick]

do you have anyone at cups off? Or just reliant on the computer to know they’re milked out? Our parlour guy is adamant you need someone on cups off

Just rely on the flow meter.

We do find that some heifers can prove challenging as they don't always let their milk down for the first few days. Bit of uddermint helps

 

[PREES]

@Bald Rick - thanks!
On your third pic (with the red expansion tank?) do the exit cows have to turn left to go down your race?

When I said we were thinking of hanging a few gates at the parlour end of the collecting yard it was to create a holding pen to just train the awkward cows over the next week or so, not a permanent feature. We just need to find away of getting the awkward mob in without upsetting the rest. We have a sheeted door separating "on" and "off" and now a sheeted panel alongside the entry race so the can't see the cows coming off. We have also partly sheeted the guide rails at the end of the collecting yard on the other side to the cows off so they can't see the milkers just in case that was putting them off!
Someone has suggested identifying any particularly difficult cows and milking them separately over the first month so we get everything flowing before reintroducing them??

 

[Bald Rick]

Yes exit cows turn left down a race with auto seg gates and a footbath plus vet yoke

 

[Sid]

Are they fed on the rotary? Shockers are commonplace in robots, as far as I know, for removing the cow.

Not seen one on a robot anywhere, and I've seen a few.