Milking times on dairy farms

likewhatever

I took over a 35 cow dairy farm two years ago and have being trying to grow the business , I have being starting to milk at 7.30 in the morning and 5.30 evening milking . Iv just continued the times my father always done. I have noticed the cows output is much larger in the morning. i tried researching the optimum times for milking and failed to find any information. Anyone with any ideas?

kevthegaff

likewhatever wrote: »

I took over a 35 cow dairy farm two years ago and have being trying to grow the business , I have being starting to milk at 7.30 in the morning and 5.30 evening milking . Iv just continued the times my father always done. I have noticed the cows output is much larger in the morning. i tried researching the optimum times for milking and failed to find any information. Anyone with any ideas?

think its said on the journal a couple of yrs ago it doesnt make much of a difference, once there out for over 8hrs. I milk at 6-6:30 and 4 in the evening depending

pg141

I think this is one of the reasons why robots are proving successful if you read up about them, as the cow more or less milks herself she will produce more milk... that is what I got from reading up about robots anyway but I assume its a mix of things that will increase milk production

Going forward...

kevthegaff wrote: »

think its said on the journal a couple of yrs ago it doesnt make much of a difference, once there out for over 8hrs.

Wonder what type of cow and yield that was based on?

I think the closer the 12hr interval, the better. Cows bursting in the morning can't be good but routine is probably more important. Cows will adapt once there's consistency.

mahoney_j

Personally think 12 hour milking intervals is mad and makes lads pure slaves to the job.i have Holstein cows and have first clusters on at 7 am and 4.30 in pm .clock off for the day at 18.00 unless at silage or something else can't be put off.farming doesn't pay we'll enough to work from. 6 in the morning to 9 or 10 at night.either that or I'm a lazy sod!!!!

Viewtodiefor

mahoney_j wrote: »

Personally think 12 hour milking intervals is mad and makes lads pure slaves to the job.i have Holstein cows and have first clusters on at 7 am and 4.30 in pm .clock off for the day at 18.00 unless at silage or something else can't be put off.farming doesn't pay we'll enough to work from. 6 in the morning to 9 or 10 at night.either that or I'm a lazy sod!!!!

+1 on that

whelan1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Personally think 12 hour milking intervals is mad and makes lads pure slaves to the job.i have Holstein cows and have first clusters on at 7 am and 4.30 in pm .clock off for the day at 18.00 unless at silage or something else can't be put off.farming doesn't pay we'll enough to work from. 6 in the morning to 9 or 10 at night.either that or I'm a lazy sod!!!!

also if you have kids its good to spend a while with them before they go to bed in the evening, you will never ever get those years back when they grow up... know a few lads that are gone in the morning when kids get up and come home when they are gone to bed:cool:

Mulumpy

My milking times vary from 430-730 in morning and same in evening cows think used to me at this stage doesn't seem to affect them

mf240

Mulumpy wrote: »

My milking times vary from 430-730 in morning and same in evening cows think used to me at this stage doesn't seem to affect them

Same here cows never come to gap unless it runs very late.

Has ran as late as midnight getting them in. When at silage or gone away for the day.

Neighbour put 120 cows through the parlour at half one, one novembers night after coming home from a wedding.

mahoney_j

mf240 wrote: »

Same here cows never come to gap unless it runs very late.

Has ran as late as midnight getting them in. When at silage or gone away for the day.

Neighbour put 120 cows through the parlour at half one, one novembers night after coming home from a wedding.

Feck it I'd id have left it they'd of had twice as much in morning!!!!!€

whelan1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Feck it I'd id have left it they'd of had twice as much in morning!!!!!€

or get someone else to milk

delaval

Cups on 5.30 am and 3,45 pm summer
7am and 4 pm from Nov to Feb
All finished and home by 6 pm

Cow gap on timer and I start cows in morning, milker arrived at 6 and I collect stragglers, coffee and back to help and deal with any penicillin cows

In spring milker works alone (that's the way he wants it) and I do calves and we both milk penicillin last for beistings etc

I am not allowed into parlour for recording!!!!!

Sam Kade

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

+1 on that

On being a lazy sod

Timmaay

What about varying the milking times? Usually 7am and 5pm here, but say this wed I need to be finished at 5pm as I have a race that evening, so will start at 4pm, will try to milk that am at maybe 6.30, that sound ok, or any harm in changing the milking time like that in the space of a day, will it cause more stress on cows etc.

whelan1

ye i would do something similar, during the snow it was 10.30 am before we got the machine going one morning:mad:

grazeaway

back in the day when we were milking my dad would usually start milking about 8am and 5pm, during the summer when i was around he would do the morning ones at about 7-ish and i would do the evening ones about 4:30-ish. cows were used to the routine so it was ok. the fun would be if he was planing on going somewhere (all ireland sunday) and we would look to get them in early say for 6. not a hope of moving them with out the dog. one time he trying to bring them in for a 6am milking the old dog had died and we had none for a while. took over a hour to get the cows in. we often milked them at 9 or 10 in the evening after coming back from thurlas or killarney. one of my uncles would usually do them on a sunday evening if we were gone to dublin for the match

yellow50HX

one of my friends took over a dairy farm from his uncle a few years ago. The uncle would always start his day checking his cattle and have his breakfast and start milking about 9 and again about 6 in the evening, he was a bachalor farmer so finishing early in the evening wasnt a big thing for him.

when my friend took over he would have the cows finished for 8 and would be back in for the breakfast and then on the school run for the kids, same again in the afternoon. on the school run at 3, kids back and would spend a bit of time with them, his wife would be back about 5-30 and he would do the cows then.

kevthegaff

I reckon u should milk for what suits u, but there is other factors like night rate electricity etc. i like to be in for brecky before 8 in the morning with the full day ahead(i get more work done in the mornings!) Also i have trainings and matches 2-3 evenings a week so have to make them. Its grand when your finished before 6pm, u can work or play:D

Viewtodiefor

Sam Kade wrote: »

On being a lazy sod

Don't see it as lazy just organised :-)
But I'm sure some of d neighbours think that! Doesn't bother me

stanflt

Timmaay wrote: »

What about varying the milking times? Usually 7am and 5pm here, but say this wed I need to be finished at 5pm as I have a race that evening, so will start at 4pm, will try to milk that am at maybe 6.30, that sound ok, or any harm in changing the milking time like that in the space of a day, will it cause more stress on cows etc.

Fair play and commitment on both fronts there- I find sport a great way of unwinding but my cruciate doesn't think so- no more contact sport of any kind

Sam Kade

yellow50HX wrote: »

one of my friends took over a dairy farm from his uncle a few years ago. The uncle would always start his day checking his cattle and have his breakfast and start milking about 9 and again about 6 in the evening, he was a bachalor farmer so finishing early in the evening wasnt a big thing for him.

when my friend took over he would have the cows finished for 8 and would be back in for the breakfast and then on the school run for the kids, same again in the afternoon. on the school run at 3, kids back and would spend a bit of time with them, his wife would be back about 5-30 and he would do the cows then.

What about married farmer with a nagging wife?

dar31

starting time isnt really set in stone, however finishing time is.
mornings machine to be turned off and washed down by 9, evenings 6 summer/winter, 6.30 spring.
usually earlier on a sunday morn to get out on the push bike, and evenings are open ended depending on family activities,

no matter whats going on some one always milks at the given time.

Going forward...

Evening milking is ~ 6pm for all the farmers I know locally. I can see five farms and we're usually bringing them in at the same time. All have families and happy(ish) marriages too.:pac:

yellow50HX

one of my friends spent a summer working on a dairy farm in england a few year ago. the farm originally had about 60 cows but over the years the farmer bought more cows and quota to bring it up to about 250 cows (spilt into 3 herds) but didn't spend much on upgrading the parlour, he employed someone to milk cows fulltime.

he was staying on the farm so would usually start about 4:30-5am and bring in the 1st lot for milking, about 6-6:30 the owner would relive him and he would go for his breakfast. he would usually be finished milking and cleaned up about 10 or 11 and unless there were a few small jobs like fencing and paddock changing he would have some dinner and kip for a bit. About 3 the whole cycle would start again but this time he was on his own, sometimes one of the kids on the farm would give him a hand usually bringing in the next lot for milking. would usually be finished about 9 or 10. he that that 6 days a week, wasn't much time for much else other then milking, especially when he was sorting out cows for the vet and AI and anything else that needed to be done.

The small parlour + big herd was a pain in the arse especially when your on your own, but they had to split the herd as otherwise the cows would be in the yard waiting for hours to be milked. he said it was fairly common in parts of england to have that setup, many of the farms were leased so rather then spending money on facilities that they didn't own they would spend it on cows, quota and labour.

he was in NZ then for a feew years dong the same but with bigger parlours so was able to milk faster, he was sick siht of cows by the time he got back home.

grazeaway

Sam Kade wrote: »

What about married farmer with a nagging wife?

married to the cows...

herslf was saying that when they were kids they used to be up at about 5 cos her dad used to start milking about 4:30 and would come in for his breakfast about 6 and the family would have it together. he would be doing the 2nd milking when they got home from school in the afternoon. in the winter time he would have a lie in till about 6. when they were at silage of cutting corn he might only sleep for a few hours at a time, and often they did the silage in shifts so it was all go non stop for a few days.

Viewtodiefor

yellow50HX wrote: »

one of my friends spent a summer working on a dairy farm in england a few year ago. the farm originally had about 60 cows but over the years the farmer bought more cows and quota to bring it up to about 250 cows (spilt into 3 herds) but didn't spend much on upgrading the parlour, he employed someone to milk cows fulltime.

he was staying on the farm so would usually start about 4:30-5am and bring in the 1st lot for milking, about 6-6:30 the owner would relive him and he would go for his breakfast. he would usually be finished milking and cleaned up about 10 or 11 and unless there were a few small jobs like fencing and paddock changing he would have some dinner and kip for a bit. About 3 the whole cycle would start again but this time he was on his own, sometimes one of the kids on the farm would give him a hand usually bringing in the next lot for milking. would usually be finished about 9 or 10. he that that 6 days a week, wasn't much time for much else other then milking, especially when he was sorting out cows for the vet and AI and anything else that needed to be done.

The small parlour + big herd was a pain in the arse especially when your on your own, but they had to split the herd as otherwise the cows would be in the yard waiting for hours to be milked. he said it was fairly common in parts of england to have that setup, many of the farms were leased so rather then spending money on facilities that they didn't own they would spend it on cows, quota and labour.

he was in NZ then for a feew years dong the same but with bigger parlours so was able to milk faster, he was sick siht of cows by the time he got back home.

No wonder they lost an empire with that kinda ****e :-)

yellow50HX

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

No wonder they lost an empire with that kinda ****e :-)

i suppose if your payign a lad to milk full time you dont really care how long it takes. plus your getting more use out of your equipment. very different if your trying to milk cows and run the farm at the same time

Viewtodiefor

yellow50HX wrote: »

i suppose if your payign a lad to milk full time you dont really care how long it takes. plus your getting more use out of your equipment. very different if your trying to milk cows and run the farm at the same time

Yeah that's if u can get someone to stick at it, suppose it's swings n roundabouts if u put in a straightforward bigger machine you'd do the same work for less money as u wouldn't have a full time millers wage to pay,

yellow50HX

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Yeah that's if u can get someone to stick at it, suppose it's swings n roundabouts if u put in a straightforward bigger machine you'd do the same work for less money as u wouldn't have a full time millers wage to pay,

yes but if you dont own the farm it dosent make much sense to spend money on equipment and buildings that you can take with you. That said the journo had an article on milking parlours and machines in germany that can be moved on the back of a lorry if you wanted a short term unit or were renting a far

Viewtodiefor

yellow50HX wrote: »

yes but if you dont own the farm it dosent make much sense to spend money on equipment and buildings that you can take with you. That said the journo had an article on milking parlours and machines in germany that can be moved on the back of a lorry if you wanted a short term unit or were renting a far

Now this is not gospel but seems like this from outside, know a lad owns 15 acres started renting 50 odd alongside him, building 14unit parlour housing slatted tank etc must be costing guts of 150k. I think that is mad!
But if u got a ten yr least or longer u could do a basic parlour for reasonable money say if there was a shed already there

whelan1

Sam Kade wrote: »

What about married farmer with a nagging wife?

mmm what about a married farmer with a nagging husband!

Sam Kade

whelan1 wrote: »

mmm what about a married farmer with a nagging husband!

Impossible,men don't nag

whelan1

Sam Kade wrote: »

Impossible,men don't nag

sorry i forgot they moan

Sam Kade

whelan1 wrote: »

sorry i forgot they moan

But moaning is nagging

whelan1

Sam Kade wrote: »

But moaning is nagging

exactly