milking parlour build

grazeaway

keep going wrote: »

Every now and again I time myself milking each row just to see where the time is actually spent and should come in in less than 7.5 minutes.I made a small change to where I stand when the cows are being left in and it made a huge difference

I always had a bit of an engineers head on me, comes from my dad. I'd say if he had the opportunities I've had he would either an engineer or vet. Very clever guy and does a lot of engineering princeables even though he has no formal training.

We have a 8 a side parlour milking 8 at a time. When he was milking he used to actually have 7 each side rather 8. What he noticed was that there would always be a few slow milkers in the herd so he would look to get one of them in to each row. That way you are still milking 8 at a time but wouldn't be waiting for the last one to finish for ages while the others were waiting. I remember timing it and going 8+8 was about 10mins longer then 7+7 each time. Similarly he had a very good system for timing the change overs of his cooling water and was able to go it in between the change overs. He also trained the dog to move the cows so no need for a backing gate.

grazeaway

6480 wrote: »

i have a good coille dog here she goes for the cows morning and evening , no need for a backing gate when she s about , would be lost without her

We had a few too, great job, cheaper and more reliable the a quad bike far more friendly. Hard to beat a good dog. The one we had up to when we last milked would bring in the milking cows and knew which dry and heifers to leave behind while we only needed to stand at the gate. He also got them into the parlour. Not mad barking as the cows knew who was boss.

jersey101

Timmaay wrote: »

Joe does alot of our parlour and scraper servicing, I'd know Hugh very well myself also. I was looking at feeders at the ploughing, saw thoses fullwood feeders alright, 1000 quid for 2cows not bad, cheapest feeders I could find other than the batch feeders were Powers feeders which worked out 560 for manual, or about 750 pneumatic. The trickle feed does sound useful, would be less poaching of food, and all plastic is good also, most steel ones will rot. But I think for now I'll be staying on a bar budget so will probably go with the manual Powers feeders

jaysus your lucky i find it hard to get him to even service my parlour. Perks of being related ha ye i dunno what sort of feederx to put in i said it to him about the batch feeders but joe wasnt too happy ha. At the end of the day ye can only buy what ye can afford

jersey101

dar31 wrote: »

he has been trying to get me up there for a good while now and see if id part with some money, he is getting fed up fixing my vintage lady.
played a bit of rugby with one of the brothers that wire it

which one john or anthony??

dar31

Didn't think they done the wiring
But know who you are on about, their nursing the same hangover I am

mahoney_j

Timmaay wrote: »

I didn't dare ask that question ha, at a guess 200k on the whole building! He has most other things sorted on the farm, and probably had abit of money to spend on it. Certainly wouldn't be the route I'd be going, someone said 20k was spent on the wiring of the whole parlour, I said that's around what I'd be wanting to spend on a full 10unit parlour ha.

Jersey, Joe your uncle? I'd have shown face if I knew ya were there, I wasn't down until after 2 though.

No way parlour wiring cost 20 k ,mine cost 5.5 k .serious amount of cable put in and had a crew of 4 lads just to lAy them and run back to fuse board

jersey101

mahoney_j wrote: »

No way parlour wiring cost 20 k ,mine cost 5.5 k .serious amount of cable put in and had a crew of 4 lads just to lAy them and run back to fuse board

ah it was a savage parlor now alri. The cows all had pedometers and all tgere yeilds were recorded and then they were fed meal accordungly. He gad a zero grazer aswell and an out of parlour feeder for the dry cows

mahoney_j

jersey101 wrote: »

ah it was a savage parlor now alri. The cows all had pedometers and all tgere yeilds were recorded and then they were fed meal accordungly. He gad a zero grazer aswell and an out of parlour feeder for the dry cows

I've all that bar out of parlour feeders ,20k seems excessively high.maby it was for new connection as well??

jersey101

mahoney_j wrote: »

I've all that bar out of parlour feeders ,20k seems excessively high.maby it was for new connection as well??

possibly. He had to connexted up to 3 phase id say

delaval

jersey101 wrote: »

ah it was a savage parlor now alri. The cows all had pedometers and all tgere yeilds were recorded and then they were fed meal accordungly. He gad a zero grazer aswell and an out of parlour feeder for the dry cows

What's his SR?
What's his tonnes dm grown?
Sounds like more money than sense, out of parlour feeders went out with the arc!!!

maxxuumman

mahoney_j wrote: »

I've all that bar out of parlour feeders ,20k seems excessively high.maby it was for new connection as well??

Same here ( just missing the pedos and the OPF, on the wish list), 20k sounds bananas. Mine was 3k, no 3 phase. Just about managing on single.

6480

jersey101 wrote: »

ah it was a savage parlor now alri. The cows all had pedometers and all tgere yeilds were recorded and then they were fed meal accordungly. He gad a zero grazer aswell and an out of parlour feeder for the dry cows

why spend more money on out of parlour feeders for dry cows , sure if you wanted to give them meal what the hell is wrong with a bucket it usually comes free , some lads get very carried away spending and cant see daylight

Sam Kade

Anyone know the price of a Dairymaster claw piece?

mahoney_j

delaval wrote: »

What's his SR?
What's his tonnes dm grown?
Sounds like more money than sense, out of parlour feeders went out with the arc!!!

Don't know answer to both above but it all obviously for a system just like mine is,spending money on things like this is far from frivolous spending.really can' really see all this low cost grass production model blowing up going forward as we have seen with weather patterns in last 2 years .supplementary feeding will get a lot more common and grass on its own just wont give enough of a punch.when feed is introduced you need an ainmAl that will give a return for its feed.ill say it again this is Ireland not New Zealand ,different country's ,climate what works over ther won't nessecarly here.we need to develop our own farming system to suit Irish conditions.low cost grass on its own just wont work

jersey101

delaval wrote: »

What's his SR?
What's his tonnes dm grown?
Sounds like more money than sense, out of parlour feeders went out with the arc!!!

never asked that wasnt going to ask him all that when i didnt know the man. All i know is he's milking 165 cows and owns 300 ac. Has a diet feeder also.

jersey101

6480 wrote: »

why spend more money on out of parlour feeders for dry cows , sure if you wanted to give them meal what the hell is wrong with a bucket it usually comes free , some lads get very carried away spending and cant see daylight

ye i thought meself it was very over the top. Ill never have anything that hi tech as long as i have a parlour thats reliable and quick to milk in and have a nice working enviroment ill be happy. And not slaving away to pay off big loans unless there for land

maxxuumman

jersey101 wrote: »

ye i thought meself it was very over the top. Ill never have anything that hi tech as long as i have a parlour thats reliable and quick to milk in and have a nice working enviroment ill be happy. And not slaving away to pay off big loans unless there for land

What price were the out of Parlour feeders?

delaval

mahoney_j wrote: »

Don't know answer to both above but it all obviously for a system just like mine is,spending money on things like this is far from frivolous spending.really can' really see all this low cost grass production model blowing up going forward as we have seen with weather patterns in last 2 years .supplementary feeding will get a lot more common and grass on its own just wont give enough of a punch.when feed is introduced you need an ainmAl that will give a return for its feed.ill say it again this is Ireland not New Zealand ,different country's ,climate what works over ther won't nessecarly here.we need to develop our own farming system to suit Irish conditions.low cost grass on its own just wont work

Well aware of where we are and don't have a problem with feeding cows and obviously higher fielders will require more dm supplement as grass can't always give it.

However I do have a problem with machine dealers, feed companies and other industries trying to turn people's heads regarding spending money.

They have their own interests at heart while licking your whole and don't realise that the customer needs to stay in business to sustain their business.

jersey101

maxxuumman wrote: »

What price were the out of Parlour feeders?

havent clue what they cost think he's had em years

Timmaay

jersey101 wrote: »

never asked that wasnt going to ask m all that when i didnt know the man. All i know is he's milking 165 cows and owns 300 ac. Has a diet feeder also.

Delaval, his SR is low enough at the minute, and only 90cows milking at the second, but huge amount of replacements coming along. I'm not sure about ton/ha, but farm covers looked great, plenty of receeding, well kept paddocks. He has no diet feed Jersey, only sheargrab fed silage, and parlour nuts. Cows all about 1100-1300gls yield. He wouldn't give a straight answer about future SR or cow numbers, but thats more his personallity. I think the parlour was funded out of land sales from off farms, so no huge borrowings needed. All in all, a well setup operation for a big expansion of cownumbers in 2015. Not the typical farmer around at all, in that he has the land and money to expand I guess, as I said before I wouldn't be going down a similar route myself at all.

jaymla627

Feed to yield and all that other fancy gear for 1100-1300 gallon cows really is overkill.
The all bells and whistles set-ups are the job for herds doing high yields and cows that need looking after, your typicial grass based spring calving dairy herd with 5000 litre cows has no need for fancy gear, id say the yearly service bill is pretty tasty on that type of parlour to and after 5-7 years all the little expensive electricial faults start to come through.

delaval

Timmaay wrote: »

Delaval, his SR is low enough at the minute, and only 90cows milking at the second, but huge amount of replacements coming along. I'm not sure about ton/ha, but farm covers looked great, plenty of receeding, well kept paddocks. He has no diet feed Jersey, only sheargrab fed silage, and parlour nuts. Cows all about 1100-1300gls yield. He wouldn't give a straight answer about future SR or cow numbers, but thats more his personallity. I think the parlour was funded out of land sales from off farms, so no huge borrowings needed. All in all, a well setup operation for a big expansion of cownumbers in 2015. Not the typical farmer around at all, in that he has the land and money to expand I guess, as I said before I wouldn't be going down a similar route myself at all.

Tim
I think that says it all!!

maxxuumman

jaymla627 wrote: »

Feed to yield and all that other fancy gear for 1100-1300 gallon cows really is overkill.
The all bells and whistles set-ups are the job for herds doing high yields and cows that need looking after, your typicial grass based spring calving dairy herd with 5000 litre cows has no need for fancy gear, id say the yearly service bill is pretty tasty on that type of parlour to and after 5-7 years all the little expensive electricial faults start to come through.

Mine in 12 yrs, no electrical issues yet. Still a joy to go into every morning

stanflt

jaymla627 wrote: »

Feed to yield and all that other fancy gear for 1100-1300 gallon cows really is overkill.
The all bells and whistles set-ups are the job for herds doing high yields and cows that need looking after, your typicial grass based spring calving dairy herd with 5000 litre cows has no need for fancy gear, id say the yearly service bill is pretty tasty on that type of parlour to and after 5-7 years all the little expensive electricial faults start to come through.

i do my own service on my parlour- its actually very simple if your computer literate

jersey101

Timmaay wrote: »

Delaval, his SR is low enough at the minute, and only 90cows milking at the second, but huge amount of replacements coming along. I'm not sure about ton/ha, but farm covers looked great, plenty of receeding, well kept paddocks. He has no diet feed Jersey, only sheargrab fed silage, and parlour nuts. Cows all about 1100-1300gls yield. He wouldn't give a straight answer about future SR or cow numbers, but thats more his personallity. I think the parlour was funded out of land sales from off farms, so no huge borrowings needed. All in all, a well setup operation for a big expansion of cownumbers in 2015. Not the typical farmer around at all, in that he has the land and money to expand I guess, as I said before I wouldn't be going down a similar route myself at all.

My bad tim thought he had a diet feeder. He used to have alot of drystock and sheep didnt he??

delaval

maxxuumman wrote: »

Mine in 12 yrs, no electrical issues yet. Still a joy to go into every morning

Do you have a high yielding herd?

keep going

delaval wrote: »

Do any of ye try the speed test putting on cups in the Dairymaster stand at the ploughing.

The winner did 4 in 14 seconds. I managed it in 17 after a few goes at over 20 secs. To be fair hygiene or the cow weren't a consideration with the test. Great craic though

I transfer 10 clusters in 2 minutes which is 12 seconds per cluster-hard to see done any faster without pulling clusters off under vacuum.slowed down tonight as fractured a couple of ribs this morning soim well b#######d.ipresume that was just putting them on.

maxxuumman

stanflt wrote: »

i do my own service on my parlour- its actually very simple if your computer literate

Yes, theyre a lot simpler than people think. And they electrics end of them are a lot less trouble, and cheaper to fix/replace than people think.
I get mine services every 7 months. Annual cost for the milking parlour service, well and scraper service costs me €1400 including vat.
What is done in the service, I could myself except for the pulsation test. Think money spent on servicing, is money well spent

maxxuumman

delaval wrote: »

Do you have a high yielding herd?

Naa

jersey101

maxxuumman wrote: »

Yes, theyre a lot simpler than people think. And they electrics end of them are a lot less trouble, and cheaper to fix/replace than people think.
I get mine services every 7 months. Annual cost for the milking parlour service, well and scraper service costs me €1400 including vat.
What is done in the service, I could myself except for the pulsation test. Think money spent on servicing, is money well spent

1400 bucks!!!!! All i ever get done is pulsation checked and i put all the new rubbers and all in myself. And the new parlour will be the same. 1400 for what? I remember being told when i was in kildalton that they did a service and it cost 5k they replaced all the soleinoids and sensors