staff systems

[Beef farmer]

4 hours on your own including getting cows in and washing down maybe. With 2 people absolutely not. That's 16 hours of milking a day. Plus in a parlour of that length you will spend more time walking up and down than milking. Every parlour salesmen I've spoken to aims to design a new parlour to have it done in 1.5 hours tops plus wash down.

Every parlour salesman wants you to be able to milk in 90 mins. I guess they have no vested interest in selling big parlours.

12 sides here. 1st 10 sides are a breeze last 2 sides your ready to finish.
Stick 2 in the pit and 16/18 sides wouldnt be a problem but there would be a lot of waiting around.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

16 sides is fine, 17 is tolerable, 18 isn't. I think parlour salesmen like to quote spot rates, we're an hour and 15 in now and have milked 250 but it will still take 3 hours to milk 550 plus a little antibiotic group.

Road crossings don't exactly speed the job up.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

1.5 hours is a lovely idea but that really means putting a rotary in for anything much over 250 cows.

Or long pits. I find myself less tired milking 1100 in a rotary than 200 in a long swing 12. I would literally be running in it though to speed things up.

 

[Princess Pooper]

16 sides is fine, 17 is tolerable, 18 isn't. I think parlour salesmen like to quote spot rates, we're an hour and 15 in now and have milked 250 but it will still take 3 hours to milk 550 plus a little antibiotic group.

Road crossings don't exactly speed the job up.
View attachment 891574

road crossings are an absolute pain in the arse, especially when you only need one person to milk but two to cross the road safely.

 

[kiwi pom]

 

[Cows 'n grass]

View attachment 891800

If I weren't a sharemilker ...

 

[steveR]

4 hours on your own including getting cows in and washing down maybe. With 2 people absolutely not. That's 16 hours of milking a day. Plus in a parlour of that length you will spend more time walking up and down than milking. Every parlour salesmen I've spoken to aims to design a new parlour to have it done in 1.5 hours tops plus wash down.

Knowing SFA about milking, I have been intrigued by this thread.

I assume that there must be some sort of calculation that can be made to find the ideal solution on these points. But a hell of lot of variables to consider in the calcs!

Remember seeing a big rotary for the first time in the early 80s in Australia, and being gobsmacked at the performance the guy was getting compared to the herringbones I'd seen in action here!

 

[kiwi pom]

Talking to a mate the other day who was telling me one of the larger dairy businesses in the area had just had a reshuffle of contract milkers (1st of June being gypsy day) It seems the herringbone sheds require more sharpening of pencils to make the numbers stack up as they always have to be rostered with 2 people in the shed. The rotaries were a bit easier as one person could fetch a herd in and crack on by themselves. They were also easier to find staff for as you're not charging up and down a pit all the time.
Grass rats obviously.

 

[multi power]

With fully housed cows what is the benefit of milking in only 2 hours ?
I noticed watching some big dairy videos from the USA they often milked 24 hours a day

 

[multi power]

Talking to a mate the other day who was telling me one of the larger dairy businesses in the area had just had a reshuffle of contract milkers (1st of June being gypsy day) It seems the herringbone sheds require more sharpening of pencils to make the numbers stack up as they always have to be rostered with 2 people in the shed. The rotaries were a bit easier as one person could fetch a herd in and crack on by themselves. They were also easier to find staff for as you're not charging up and down a pit all the time.
Grass rats obviously.

No reason for a herringbone to need 2 people but rotary only one, assuming both have ACRs

 

[kiwi pom]

No reason for a herringbone to need 2 people but rotary only one, assuming both have ACRs

In this case I think they were looking at 700 cows. I know which one I'd prefer.
Dairy staff are hard to find.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Talking to a mate the other day who was telling me one of the larger dairy businesses in the area had just had a reshuffle of contract milkers (1st of June being gypsy day) It seems the herringbone sheds require more sharpening of pencils to make the numbers stack up as they always have to be rostered with 2 people in the shed. The rotaries were a bit easier as one person could fetch a herd in and crack on by themselves. They were also easier to find staff for as you're not charging up and down a pit all the time.
Grass rats obviously.

Only if it’s outfitted with acrs, retainers and some sort of teat spraying device. A basic rotary still takes 2.

As a kiwi once commented to me. Rotaries for family, herringbones for staff.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

With fully housed cows what is the benefit of milking in only 2 hours ?
I noticed watching some big dairy videos from the USA they often milked 24 hours a day

Have to consider pen size and standing times. You still don’t want cows not able to eat or lay down for more than 4 hours per day.

Also don’t look to the US as a good example on milking parlor size. We got that very wrong from the beginning and continue to do so. Build it as big as you can.

 

[multi power]

Have to consider pen size and standing times. You still don’t want cows not able to eat or lay down for more than 4 hours per day.

Also don’t look to the US as a good example on milking parlor size. We got that very wrong from the beginning and continue to do so. Build it as big as you can.

My understanding on pen size is no more than can be milked in 45 minutes

 

[Beef farmer]

To get more output from the 24:48 a walk over test sprayer would make a world of difference.
With that in place a 30:60 would become a 1 man/woman parlour.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

To get more output from the 24:48 a walk over test sprayer would make a world of difference.
With that in place a 30:60 would become a 1 man/woman parlour.

Just use the @jimmer strategy. Child labor.

 

[Hotspur]

4 hour Milking isn't too bad if you've worked an 8 hour shift in some kind of factory.

 

[Princess Pooper]

4 hour Milking isn't too bad if you've worked an 8 hour shift in some kind of factory.

Depends what else you are expected to do though!

 

[Hotspur]

Depends what else you are expected to do though!

Another 8 hours work would easily be found I'm sure

 

[Cows 'n grass]

There's a job advertised on FB this morning putting 600 through a 24:48. 25 rows is quite a milking even if there were 2 in the pit.