Cost of new milking parlour

case885

hey thinking of putting in new milking parlour before grant is gone. thinking of putting up new shed, 16 units with room for 4 more, acrs, diversion line, automatic gates. just wondering would anyone know what kind of price the shed would be to put up. probably 22x60 foot shed i would say. thanks

PMU

why 16 with room for 4 more, why not 20 the 1st time.

case885

because im only milking 85 cows at the moment and going for 140 so i dont need 20 units at the moment and they would probably cost an extra 15000 thousand

cowman2

i think a 16 is plenty for even 140 cows really

Timmaay

Totally ballpark figure I have heard is 2grand per unit for the parlour, that is without the shed though, which is what you asked about! I honestly don't know what sheds cost at the minute, but I will say make should you price up as many different places as you can, one of the local farmers was telling me the different quotes he got for various sheds (all grant spec by the way), he ended up getting the shed up for less the 1/2 the price of the very 1st quote he got!! It pays to shop around!

stanflt

Timmaay wrote: »

Totally ballpark figure I have heard is 2grand per unit for the parlour, that is without the shed though, which is what you asked about! I honestly don't know what sheds cost at the minute, but I will say make should you price up as many different places as you can, one of the local farmers was telling me the different quotes he got for various sheds (all grant spec by the way), he ended up getting the shed up for less the 1/2 the price of the very 1st quote he got!! It pays to shop around!

thats cheap- i know someone who spent 10k per unit

Viewtodiefor

stanflt wrote: »

Timmaay wrote: »

Totally ballpark figure I have heard is 2grand per unit for the parlour, that is without the shed though, which is what you asked about! I honestly don't know what sheds cost at the minute, but I will say make should you price up as many different places as you can, one of the local farmers was telling me the different quotes he got for various sheds (all grant spec by the way), he ended up getting the shed up for less the 1/2 the price of the very 1st quote he got!! It pays to shop around!

thats cheap- i know someone who spent 10k per unit

Id say 3k per unit for very basic machine. Any extras n price will shoot up to stans 10k

whelan1

cowman2 wrote: »

i think a 16 is plenty for even 140 cows really

i have 15 units for 150 cows with acrs

Viewtodiefor

whelan1 wrote: »

cowman2 wrote: »

i think a 16 is plenty for even 140 cows really

i have 15 units for 150 cows with acrs

Sure it all depends how long you want to be milking d cows personally I think if you are doing them all the time yourself then an hour r so is enough if not then you could stretch this to ninety minutes. So 85 cows I'd go for a 14 unit build d stalls so u can extend and put in milk lines so you can extend at a later date.
Of course mostly it will depends on d financial situation
I'd say build for good cow flow rather than lots of fancy computers when you start out all these acrs etc can be added in later if you plan correctly.

Ps. We milked 100 cows on a six unit onetime! So ya have it handy even with a ten unit

Timmaay

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Id say 3k per unit for very basic machine. Any extras n price will shoot up to stans 10k

Ha ok, looks like I may put off an upgrade for a while longer

whelan1

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Sure it all depends how long you want to be milking d cows personally I think if you are doing them all the time yourself then an hour r so is enough if not then you could stretch this to ninety minutes. So 85 cows I'd go for a 14 unit build d stalls so u can extend and put in milk lines so you can extend at a later date.
Of course mostly it will depends on d financial situation
I'd say build for good cow flow rather than lots of fancy computers when you start out all these acrs etc can be added in later if you plan correctly.

Ps. We milked 100 cows on a six unit onetime! So ya have it handy even with a ten unit

milked 360 cows in an 8 unit parlour on work experience:eek:

Viewtodiefor

whelan1 wrote: »

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Sure it all depends how long you want to be milking d cows personally I think if you are doing them all the time yourself then an hour r so is enough if not then you could stretch this to ninety minutes. So 85 cows I'd go for a 14 unit build d stalls so u can extend and put in milk lines so you can extend at a later date.
Of course mostly it will depends on d financial situation
I'd say build for good cow flow rather than lots of fancy computers when you start out all these acrs etc can be added in later if you plan correctly.

Ps. We milked 100 cows on a six unit onetime! So ya have it handy even with a ten unit

milked 360 cows in an 8 unit parlour on work experience:eek:

Torture!

Tipp Man

You'll spend nearly as long (possibly longer) bringing in the cows, washing up after, closing wire etc after as you will milking the cows

And it is very hard to cut the amount of time these things take

Wouldn't like to be doing more than 10 lines personally

6480

case885 wrote: »

because im only milking 85 cows at the moment and going for 140 so i dont need 20 units at the moment and they would probably cost an extra 15000 thousand

good job u havent 140 cows this year the way the weather has gone , i am milking 62 and its tough going , i sometime think a man can take on too much and not be able to cope for a storm and thats what we have got this year i see lads beside me here stocked heavily milking 130 and were talking last year expanding to 180 , they are strugling big time one man has his first cut silage that was cut in mid may almost gone

awaywithyou

stanflt wrote: »

thats cheap- i know someone who spent 10k per unit

is that yourself your referring to there Stanflt???

we're in the same boat thinking of a parlour.... thinking min 20 units, possibly 24 if we can fit them into the existing shed...

apart from ACR's.... what other extras do people think are worthwhile going for...?

Timmaay

case885 wrote: »

before grant is gone

Anyone care to look into their crystal ball and predict when this will be? From looking at the points system I think I fortunately have a good chance of getting one, but like everything, money is tight and the longer I can save up the better.

stanflt

awaywithyou wrote: »

is that yourself your referring to there Stanflt???

we're in the same boat thinking of a parlour.... thinking min 20 units, possibly 24 if we can fit them into the existing shed...

apart from ACR's.... what other extras do people think are worthwhile going for...?

no i spent 7.5 inc vat

acrs, auto washer(a must) cluster cleanse, auto id, quillotine front gates, auto dump line, 2stage industrial plate cooler, feed to yeild etc etc. milk meters which record ever milking- great for depressed yield-notice a cow in heat or sick

20silkcut

Why not a robot machine 120 grand? No new fancy sheds.

grazeaway

20silkcut wrote: »

Why not a robot machine 120 grand? No new fancy sheds.

there is more to the robot set-up. a bit more planning is needed to get it to work right. would be hard to swap straight over from an 8 unit system to a robot.

• most robot milking setup are limited by your cow numbers. 1 robot will do about 70 cows so you need to be working on multiples of 65 to 75 to get the most efficeny.
• most work best with cows that are indoors all the time (a bit like this summer) and the use of zero grazing, (contiental milking model)
• those that use them here on a grazing platform tend to use a 12 hour grazing block system (from reading the ads for the lely unit in the jouro)

i reckon you could incoprate a robot into the traditinal system in ireland for 70 cows without too much change. I reckon for that size herd you could still graze the paddocks in the same way but train the cows to come to the parlour with out having to use expensive meal. if the yard is central to the farm and the the road ways are already good as is the case nowadays i think it would work. take the drinking troughs out of the fields and put them in the shed, the cows would then have to pass through the robot to get to the water. once its not too far away i reckon it could be done as they would need to walk that way twice a day for milking anyway.

personnly if i was to go back to milking it would be something i'd look at as i work off farm so i'd need to save time. from what i have figured out if your stuck for time to milk the cows but want to stay with them then its the way to go if you set it up right. If you have the time to milk them say 90 mins twice a day then go with the parlour.

Fermec

The Robots have a bit to go Before they are Perfected id Say, Plus They Seem a bit Expensive, Considering its only one Unit You are Getting.

grazeaway

defo more expensive but if they didnt work right they wouldnt be in use so much. again it all comes down to how your system operatate. if the cows are in feedlots or in zero grazing systems then its a no brainer. as a few lads have posted before there is also the additonal costs of cleaning solutions and servicing. that said they do come with lots of bells and wishtles as standard like a weigher, cow identifier, milk analsyer auto drafting and so on. If you were to put the same kinda technolgy into a parlour i wonder how much it would cost? auto removers, auto cleaning, auto drafting, milk analsysers, auto feeders, weigh scales, etc. it all adds up i suppose. if your looking at 10k per unit for a well kitted out parlour then there is proably not as much extra cost when you take into account labour costs espically if your payign someone to milk them.

i still reckon they have a place in irish milking but only with certain set-ups. i remeber my dad saying that the ol lads used to wonder what the point of getting a machine to milk cows was when someone hada good pair of hands. times change and technolgy changes with it.

stanflt

Fermec wrote: »

The Robots have a bit to go Before they are Perfected id Say, Plus They Seem a bit Expensive, Considering its only one Unit You are Getting.

lely doing a finance package at the minute- 75euro a day over 10years for 2robots

i know lads paying 100euro a day just on labour

grumpyfarmer

Id be a great believer in keeping things as simple as possible. the more auto this and electronic that you put on a machine the more possibilitys of expensive break downs and maintaince, and these things tend to break down at 5 o'clock on a Sunday evening. and the more training it'll take to get a relief milker... as Murphy' s law states;
keep it simple
If it can go wrong it will go wrong..

grazeaway

stanflt wrote: »

lely doing a finance package at the minute- 75euro a day over 10years for 2robots

i know lads paying 100euro a day just on labour

There ya go i suppose. if you add the number of milking days in a year by the cost of doing it there is defo a pay back.

would be well worth seeing somewhere that has had them in for a few years and see how it works for them.

like i always say when it come to farming see what otehr people do and take on board the best bits

cowman2

true words,,u could allow a hour for all the extras

boroboy

case885 wrote: »

hey thinking of putting in new milking parlour before grant is gone. thinking of putting up new shed, 16 units with room for 4 more, acrs, diversion line, automatic gates. just wondering would anyone know what kind of price the shed would be to put up. probably 22x60 foot shed i would say. thanks

put up new one last year 34 x 70 foot,cost 13500 inc vat.grant spec.think u should put bin 20 first day,will cost twice price after + with auto gate at back be awkward changing after.auto wash might be consideration.find it good.talk to farmers with it.advise-put in what u want first day and dont be fleesed after.p.s milk in diff parlours to see which machine u prefer

Figerty

Hi all,
I know nothing about milking cows bar a three legged stool and bucket. But I was talking to a pneumatics company rep a year or more ago. He told me he had spent a good bit of time with a dairy farmer who had built an new shed and unit. This guy was a one man operation and had invested in a pneumatic operated gates that could be controlled inside the shed and was saving great time in livestock management. The rep was seriously impressed with the farmers brain in figuring it out.
Simple pneumatics for opening and closing gates, no need to running up and down the shed opening and closing gates. A bit of forsight and planning will save some hardship in the long term.
Compressed air isn't that expensive and reliable. If the system goes down for any reason it is easy to decouple and work away manually.

grover_green

can see the robots being the norm in countries like the usa , canada or most europe in less than forty years , countries where cows are fed indoors all year round , might even come to dominate in northern ireland , quite a few lads miking indoors all the time less than a hundred miles north of drogheda , cant see them taking off in places like new zealand and ireland , dont suit a grass based system where cows have to be fetched twice a day

milkprofit

get the cows first get cash flow

case885

boroboy wrote: »

put up new one last year 34 x 70 foot,cost 13500 inc vat.grant spec.think u should put bin 20 first day,will cost twice price after + with auto gate at back be awkward changing after.auto wash might be consideration.find it good.talk to farmers with it.advise-put in what u want first day and dont be fleesed after.p.s milk in diff parlours to see which machine u prefer

what extras did you put in? and how much roughly did the whole project cost you? if you dont mind me asking.

Timmaay

stanflt wrote: »

i know lads paying 100euro a day just on labour

I wish I could pay myself 100quid just for the 2 or 3 hours I spend in the parlour every day Some day though!