Milking Parlour Advice

mickey1985

Hi just looking for abit of advice on which parlour type to choose. Currently milking 56 on an old 8 unit herringbone that needs upgrading. The most I can fit in the current shed is a 12 unit herrongbone with 2'6" centre. However if I knock a wall I could squeeze in another 2 units and have the cows side by side with 2'2" centres. Shed is currently 17ft wide so i will have a narrow pit if I go without knocking the wall. Would 2'2" be a big advantage over 2'6". How do people find working in a pit of less than 4' 1/2 ft or is it worth the hassle of knocking the wall thanks

Zeebsisgone654

Narrow pit is pure misery , make the pit 6 feet wide anyway

mickey1985 wrote: »

Hi just looking for abit of advice on which parlour type to choose. Currently milking 56 on an old 8 unit herringbone that needs upgrading. The most I can fit in the current shed is a 12 unit herrongbone with 2'6" centre. However if I knock a wall I could squeeze in another 2 units and have the cows side by side with 2'2" centres. Shed is currently 17ft wide so i will have a narrow pit if I go without knocking the wall. Would 2'2" be a big advantage over 2'6". How do people find working in a pit of less than 4' 1/2 ft or is it worth the hassle of knocking the wall thanks

mahoney_j

4.5 foot pit disaster ,too narrow too cluttered .6 foot at least ,would prefer 2 ft 6 centers .whats the max cow no’s u can go to ???.8 rows per milking is comfortable

mickey1985

mahoney_j wrote: »

4.5 foot pit disaster ,too narrow too cluttered .6 foot at least ,would prefer 2 ft 6 centers .whats the max cow no’s u can go to ???.8 rows per milking is comfortable

4.5 feet is all I can fit in the current building as its only 17ft wide. Max no.s would be 70/80 on current land base. With side by side must you have a baling system at their head or can you use individual mangers?

alps

We're 2'6" with a straight rumprail, and I'm just not happy with the stance of the cows back legs. The forward back leg is meeting the kick bar ever so slightly and is tending to narrow the stance of the back legs for cluster positioning.

Excellent otherwise, but I would research if a staggered rump rail would help..

mickey1985

alps wrote: »

We're 2'6" with a straight rumprail, and I'm just not happy with the stance of the cows back legs. The forward back leg is meeting the kick bar ever so slightly and is tending to narrow the stance of the back legs for cluster positioning.

Excellent otherwise, but I would research if a staggered rump rail would help..

How far are you from the wall to the edge of the pit? I presume 2'2" would be easier to put on the cow

Nekarsulm

I built a 10 unit one with 2'2 centres.
Happy with it, used Dairymaster manual head locking rails, but rarely need to close them.
Cashman manual feeders, and a concrete block built feed trough, with 10" glazed 1/2 pipes to hold each cows meal..
Better to go milk meters or direct-to-line at 2'2, jars pretty close together for walking between.
I think the width between the walls is 22 feet.

_Brian

12 units with 2’6 centres should be fine.

Do you expect to increase cow numbers much more, that may be a consideration in units.

Don’t go for a narrow pit, it’s horrible. Lads will say they don’t mind, but it’s horrible, and given the choice they would all have a wider pit.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Nekarsulm wrote: »

I built a 10 unit one with 2'2 centres.
Happy with it, used Dairymaster manual head locking rails, but rarely need to close them.
Cashman manual feeders, and a concrete block built feed trough, with 10" glazed 1/2 pipes to hold each cows meal..
Better to go milk meters or direct-to-line at 2'2, jars pretty close together for walking between.
I think the width between the walls is 22 feet.

:eek:

Jaysus, Nek, welcome to the dark side:D

mickey1985

Lads where would you get good parlour paint?

Nekarsulm

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

:eek:

Jaysus, Nek, welcome to the dark side:D

mickey1985

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Nek where did you get the blue and white paint. Also is that parlour top that you used for the red floor

Nekarsulm

The blue paint was bought from an Alfa-Laval dealer,a kind of plasticky stuff.
The white is ordinary gloss, straight onto the concrete.
The red is carborundum dust trowelled into the mass concrete before it set.

The red surface is down almost 18 years now, no wear in the parlour to speak off.
In the dairy a small area has gone missing directly below where the milk pipe tends to position itself when emptying the washing water.

See the half submerged shovel?
For the love of God use 6inch or even 8 inch sewer pipes for your pit drain.
Don't use 4 inch sewer (or black 4 inch ducting!)
Only a couple of hundred euro in the difference, money you'll really regret saving if you get a blockage or a cracked/crushed pipe.

The parlour was an 8 unit Dairymaster I bought S/H up in Monaghan.
2'6" centres.
Changed the main milk line to one with 2'2" centres and put the cows at 90 degrees to the pit.
Bought two more S/H jars/units and two more Cashman feeders, as ten cows at 2'2" will fit into the same space as the eight did at 2'6".
Bought head rails from Dairymaster and rejigged the Orby auger to fit the new feeder spacing.
Local place folded stainless steel for the foot rail and welded a tiny stainless pipe along the top to take the sharp edge off it.
Done absolutely everything myself, concrete, wiring, installation.
Cost for everything (except the shed its in) was about 22000 euro.

mickey1985

Was it off construction chemical supplies the red dust was bought from?

Nekarsulm

mickey1985 wrote: »

Was it off construction chemical supplies the red dust was bought from?

That sounds familiar, I think it was.

mickey1985

Lads is it worth putting in the parlour top to male the floors red. Pouring concrete Monday and need to know whether or not to get the bags.

Buford T. Justice XIX

mickey1985 wrote: »

Lads is it worth putting in the parlour top to male the floors red. Pouring concrete Monday and need to know whether or not to get the bags.

It looks better, I think, but I haven't done it in mine and I dont even notice it. Once it's washed and clean, I wouldn't worry about what colour it is.

GrasstoMilk

mickey1985 wrote: »

Lads is it worth putting in the parlour top to male the floors red. Pouring concrete Monday and need to know whether or not to get the bags.

If it was me I would. Makes the parlour that bit brighter and it will never wear

mickey1985

Would you need a bag for every 5m2 as they say to use. I reckon I'd need 10 bags at that go for a 12 unit or have people used less?

simx

mickey1985 wrote: »

Lads is it worth putting in the parlour top to male the floors red. Pouring concrete Monday and need to know whether or not to get the bags.

Know a lad poured a 12 unit recently, just used 45n concrete, said dye was going to cost €400 or so more so didn’t bother, I nearly would of put it in if it was me tbh it looks well, this is something you’ll be looking at for a long time

dar31

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

If it was me I would. Makes the parlour that bit brighter and it will never wear

Same.
Long time looking at full concrete.
Done the floor red.
Didn't paint the walls and regret it now.
If we every dry off for xmas I'll do it then.

dar31

mickey1985 wrote: »

Would you need a bag for every 5m2 as they say to use. I reckon I'd need 10 bags at that go for a 12 unit or have people used less?

Yes.
Had some left over from pit and used on dairy floor at half rate.
Very poor job esp. Where wash water and tank washings hit the floor

Nekarsulm

The point of the exercise is that carborundum is much harder wearing than concrete.
The colour is a secondry thing.

mickey1985

Any idea how many bags you used nex in your parlour?

Nekarsulm

I cant remember now, but it was near a dozen.
It was expensive, but only doing it once in a lifetime so went ahead.
I see they now do blue and green as well.

mickey1985

Lads where would you buy the dark blue paint that goes with a dairy master parlour? Thinking of getting paint off the crowd that sell the parlour top but not sure if it will match