milking parlours

Deepsouthwest · 29-06-2014 10:35AM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Worked in two 16 units . one for 4 mths -acrs. and spent 2 yrs relief milking for a lad at weekends-no acts or metres.
Didn't like the one I was in for 4 mths. Was standing around a lot of the time. Took an hour to milk 100 cows
Parlour I spent 2 yrs in was a lot nicer. Big high roof and very bright inside and cows came in and out very quick. 1hr 15 min to milk 120 cows.
I'd put on cups get in next row strip them. Take clusters off other row and hang up. Let that row out. Start cupping on next row and by the time I'd got to end last cow was out of last line. Next row in and do the same routine again. Wasnt flat put either. There was at least a minute or two where I was waiting for cows to finish.
Good cow flow makes it a lot easier.
Other 16 unit I was in was a balls of a job and only newly built.
There was a wall behind parlour and collecting yard was behind that so I had to go and push in cows through a side door.
Only time I ever got out of other parlour was to open gates to let cows off

So how much has that got to do with ACR's? Other than having to take off each cluster and hang it up, then let out that row, then back up to the front and start putting them on again, double handling each cluster between rows sounds v laborious to me.

Deepsouthwest · 29-06-2014 10:40AM

joejobrien wrote: »

Whats this waiting around for and disengaging business / engage catch and lift bit. Maybe some have this system but for certain Dairymaster allows you faster flow/ move on by just swinging left or right wit auto start. no waiting as previously mentioned. Also on further note. you u would like to make life a little bit easier wouldnt you .............25 yrsplus experience should carry abit of weight i think

Engaging/ disengaging/ waiting all sounds like bullsh1t to me. What are u waiting for? When the cows is milked the the cluster comes off, then u throw it in on the other side, end off.

Deepsouthwest · 29-06-2014 10:45AM

sheebadog wrote: »

I fecking hate the cursed things. Time wasters that I never trust.

Could u give a bit more info on why u hate the "cursed things"? And how they waste ur time etc?

Greengrass1 · 29-06-2014 10:49AM

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

So how much has that got to do with ACR's? Other than having to take off each cluster and hang it up, then let out that row, then back up to the front and start putting them on again, double handling each cluster between rows sounds v laborious to me.

Not really. Milked 120 cows in 1hr 15 didn't I?
In the other 16 unit I had to pull the arm with me and then press button for cluster to drop and vaccum to come on

Panch18 · 29-06-2014 10:55AM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Not really. Milked 120 cows in 1hr 15 didn't I?
In the other 16 unit I had to pull the arm with me and then press button for cluster to drop and vaccum to come on

Not sure how old or what brand those removers were but the dairymaster the suction automatically starts once you swing the arm past the mid point sensor

Think they are a great job personally

Timmaay · 29-06-2014 11:09AM

KCTK wrote: »

Any chance you could go ahead say without acrs this year under TAMS1 but make a deal to put them in next year under the new grant scheme, you will start as having claimed nil from grants on 1 January 15, only thing is if your planning on say claiming a grant for new slatted house up until 2020 then it all adds to the total allowed under new grant scheme.

Does anyone have more information on the new grant scheme? I was under the assumption that once I'd claimed my one dairy grant I would struggled to claim another one again. I know of lads who put in bulk thanks under TAMS1, only to have Glanbia tell them they needed 3day storage, but they were unable to claim again for upgrading the tank. If I can claim again under TAMS2 (or whatever it will be called), then it's a no brainer to install the barebones spec now, see how I get on with it, and upgrade in a yr or so if I want when cow numbers have increased. I would assume it won't be a huge job for the lads to come back and wire in acrs and milk meters in the future. It's something that I'll price up anyways.

Auto Feed to yield is definitely something I need to look into also, but hard to know if it's worth it. At the minute I think I'm doing a decent job of it, we have manual cashmans that give out 1kg each pull, I know all the cows and all their yields, the cows who need 3kgs have yellow tailtape also. My question would be will I be under pressure with individually feeding 14cows instead of 6 now, and then what would the savings be of letting a computer do a more accurate and reliable job of deciding the meal to be fed have over doing it myself with tailtape and say 3 different yields, low (nothing over the base feed) , medium yield (+1kg), and high yielding (+2kgs). One thing is for sure I will not be putting in batch feeders, the very min will be the cashman air compressed feeders and individual mangers.

stanflt · 29-06-2014 11:14AM

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Not really. Milked 120 cows in 1hr 15 didn't I?
In the other 16 unit I had to pull the arm with me and then press button for cluster to drop and vaccum to come on

Had milking time anything to do with the yield of the herd???

Sales men say you will put through 10 rows an hour- maybe if your herd delivers 4000 litres

stanflt · 29-06-2014 11:21AM

Timmaay wrote: »

Does anyone have more information on the new grant scheme? I was under the assumption that once I'd claimed my one dairy grant I would struggled to claim another one again. I know of lads who put in bulk thanks under TAMS1, only to have Glanbia tell them they needed 3day storage, but they were unable to claim again for upgrading the tank. If I can claim again under TAMS2 (or whatever it will be called), then it's a no brainer to install the barebones spec now, see how I get on with it, and upgrade in a yr or so if I want when cow numbers have increased. I would assume it won't be a huge job for the lads to come back and wire in acrs and milk meters in the future. It's something that I'll price up anyways.

Auto Feed to yield is definitely something I need to look into also, but hard to know if it's worth it. At the minute I think I'm doing a decent job of it, we have manual cashmans that give out 1kg each pull, I know all the cows and all their yields, the cows who need 3kgs have yellow tailtape also. My question would be will I be under pressure with individually feeding 14cows instead of 6 now, and then what would the savings be of letting a computer do a more accurate and reliable job of deciding the meal to be fed have much of a saving over doing it myself with tailtape and say 3 different yields, low (nothing over the base feed) , medium yield (+1kg), and high yielding (+2kgs). One thing is for sure I will not be putting in batch feeders, the very min will be the cashman air compressed feeders and individual mangers.

Feed to yield

Set base feed ie 25 litre no feed and litre over that 0.5 kg per litre

Theirs enough energy in terms of ufl in 1 kg of meal to support 2.1litres of milk

So if your not getting 2100 litre extra from every tonne of concentrate your not being effecient

If your feeding 800kg of meal and delivering 5500 litre per cow than only 3800 is coming from grass

Lads need to smarten up

jaymla627 · 29-06-2014 11:32AM

frazzledhome wrote: »

120 cows 16 units 1 hrs or less, why spend €16k+ for 10 minutes?

I was replying to Timmay who is talking of 14 units, Jesus you'd have them flicked over while the machine would be hanging them up.

Agree on drafting and feeding. All I'm doing is giving my opinion and I won't be wasting my money on them[/QUOT

Personally hate acrs have milked in parlours with and without and always find milking a lot quicker where they weren't installed, also find cows are alot more giddy inclined to dung the parlour with acrs.
Along with my biggest issue being when a cow dungs and the acr slides nicely through it not the best for your tbc plus the fact when your training in heifers they do have a great time snapping/rapping the cords around themselves

stanflt · 29-06-2014 11:33AM

Timmaay wrote: »

Does anyone have more information on the new grant scheme? I was under the assumption that once I'd claimed my one dairy grant I would struggled to claim another one again. I know of lads who put in bulk thanks under TAMS1, only to have Glanbia tell them they needed 3day storage, but they were unable to claim again for upgrading the tank. If I can claim again under TAMS2 (or whatever it will be called), then it's a no brainer to install the barebones spec now, see how I get on with it, and upgrade in a yr or so if I want when cow numbers have increased. I would assume it won't be a huge job for the lads to come back and wire in acrs and milk meters in the future. It's something that I'll price up anyways.

Auto Feed to yield is definitely something I need to look into also, but hard to know if it's worth it. At the minute I think I'm doing a decent job of it, we have manual cashmans that give out 1kg each pull, I know all the cows and all their yields, the cows who need 3kgs have yellow tailtape also. My question would be will I be under pressure with individually feeding 14cows instead of 6 now, and then what would the savings be of letting a computer do a more accurate and reliable job of deciding the meal to be fed have much of a saving over doing it myself with tailtape and say 3 different yields, low (nothing over the base feed) , medium yield (+1kg), and high yielding (+2kgs). One thing is for sure I will not be putting in batch feeders, the very min will be the cashman air compressed feeders and individual mangers.

Feed to yield

Set base feed ie 25 litre no feed and litre over that 0.5 kg per litre

Theirs enough energy in terms of ufl in 1 kg of meal to support 2.1litres of milk

So if your not getting 2100 litre extra from every tonne of concentrate your not being effecient

If your feeding 800kg of meal and delivering 5500 litre per cow than only 3800 is coming from grass

Lads need to smarten up

mahoney_j · 29-06-2014 11:44AM

Panch18 wrote: »

Not sure how old or what brand those removers were but the dairymaster the suction automatically starts once you swing the arm past the mid point sensor

Think they are a great job personally

+1 they seem like an ancient job mine work as u described.gg whilst agreeing with u on getting grass,paddocks,roadways etc right. I get the distinct impression that you only don't like acrs or diet feeders or other such things because they don't fit the low cost template.technology andcways of making things easier and more efficient and shortening ur working day need to be embraced a lot more openly.the vast majority of us here are not at the scale or have the vast experience of frazzled .money is not that easy come by for lads starting out to fund land purchase .in my case land in my area just isn't there so I have to concentrate in maximising production and profit per cow and per hectare.

RightTurnClyde · 29-06-2014 11:49AM

jaymla627 wrote: »

frazzledhome wrote: »

120 cows 16 units 1 hrs or less, why spend €16k+ for 10 minutes?

I was replying to Timmay who is talking of 14 units, Jesus you'd have them flicked over while the machine would be hanging them up.

Agree on drafting and feeding. All I'm doing is giving my opinion and I won't be wasting my money on them[/QUOT

Personally hate acrs have milked in parlours with and without and always find milking a lot quicker where they weren't installed, also find cows are alot more giddy inclined to dung the parlour with acrs.
Along with my biggest issue being when a cow dungs and the acr slides nicely through it not the best for your tbc plus the fact when your training in heifers they do have a great time snapping/rapping the cords around themselves

There's something seriously wrong with those ACRs if they are dragging along the ground where the cow is standing and worse problem if the cows are dunging when they are coming off. There are big setting problems with ACRs that are causing that.

Like others I don't get the issue with the delay with coming off and "hanging up"
Once a cow is finished milking and the cluster disengages, the cluster can be swung over to the other cow and attached. It doesn't have to go all the way up.
I'm rarely waiting for a cluster, 2+ clusters could be coming off at the one time and waiting for you half way across the pit. Can't see what the issue,where's the delay and the waiting.

jaymla627 · 29-06-2014 11:53AM

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

jaymla627 wrote: »

There's something seriously wrong with those ACRs if they are dragging along the ground where the cow is standing and worse problem if the cows are dunging when they are coming off. There are big setting problems with ACRs that are causing that.

Like others I don't get the issue with the delay with coming off and "hanging up"
Once a cow is finished milking and the cluster disengages, the cluster can be swung over to the other cow and attached. It doesn't have to go all the way up.
I'm rarely waiting for a cluster, 2+ clusters could be coming off at the one time and waiting for you half way across the pit. Can't see what the issue,where's the delay and the waiting.

It was the older ladies where the dragging problems where with their udders being so low to the ground its nearly unavoidable that they are going to drag no matter what acr is installed

frazzledhome · 29-06-2014 11:54AM

Panch18 wrote: »

Not sure how old or what brand those removers were but the dairymaster the suction automatically starts once you swing the arm past the mid point sensor

Think they are a great job personally

Swing over arms another couple of hundred per unit wasted. Salesmen must love ye

Greengrass1 · 29-06-2014 12:13PM

stanflt wrote: »

Had milking time anything to do with the yield of the herd???

Sales men say you will put through 10 rows an hour- maybe if your herd delivers 4000 litres

Both fr herds hitting 26-30l no bother. One was a spring herd very well ran and other was liquid with cows calving from September to may or june

joejobrien · 29-06-2014 12:16PM

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Engaging/ disengaging/ waiting all sounds like bullsh1t to me. What are u waiting for? When the cows is milked the the cluster comes off, then u throw it in on the other side, end off.

fully agree

joejobrien · 29-06-2014 12:19PM

Panch18 wrote: »

Not sure how old or what brand those removers were but the dairymaster the suction automatically starts once you swing the arm past the mid point sensor

Think they are a great job personally

exactly what i was saying there no time wasting, every cow is milked out the same everytime.

Panch18 · 29-06-2014 12:22PM

frazzledhome wrote: »

Swing over arms another couple of hundred per unit wasted. Salesmen must love ye

Parlour being used twice a day, 300 days a year for 25 years or more

Might as well make it as comfortable and stress free as possible when your doing it rather than running around like a blue arsed fly for a couple hours a day for the rest of your life

joejobrien · 29-06-2014 12:24PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

+1 they seem like an ancient job mine work as u described.gg whilst agreeing with u on getting grass,paddocks,roadways etc right. I get the distinct impression that you only don't like acrs or diet feeders or other such things because they don't fit the low cost template.technology andcways of making things easier and more efficient and shortening ur working day need to be embraced a lot more openly.the vast majority of us here are not at the scale or have the vast experience of frazzled .money is not that easy come by for lads starting out to fund land purchase .in my case land in my area just isn't there so I have to concentrate in maximising production and profit per cow and per hectare.

Well said

Deepsouthwest · 29-06-2014 12:26PM

jaymla627 wrote: »

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

It was the older ladies where the dragging problems where with their udders being so low to the ground its nearly unavoidable that they are going to drag no matter what acr is installed

U might've mentioned that in ur first post!

Panch18 · 29-06-2014 12:26PM

joejobrien wrote: »

exactly what i was saying there no time wasting, every cow is milked out the same everytime.

I really don't know what some lads are talking about or what kind of ACR's they're supposed to have

joejobrien · 29-06-2014 12:27PM

RightTurnClyde wrote: »

jaymla627 wrote: »

There's something seriously wrong with those ACRs if they are dragging along the ground where the cow is standing and worse problem if the cows are dunging when they are coming off. There are big setting problems with ACRs that are causing that.

Like others I don't get the issue with the delay with coming off and "hanging up"
Once a cow is finished milking and the cluster disengages, the cluster can be swung over to the other cow and attached. It doesn't have to go all the way up.
I'm rarely waiting for a cluster, 2+ clusters could be coming off at the one time and waiting for you half way across the pit. Can't see what the issue,where's the delay and the waiting.

This is the proper manner to milk cows and in doing so is fast an efficent milking.

joejobrien · 29-06-2014 12:31PM

Panch18 wrote: »

Parlour being used twice a day, 300 days a year for 25 years or more

Might as well make it as comfortable and stress free as possible when your doing it rather than running around like a blue arsed fly for a couple hours a day for the rest of your life

+1

Milked out · 29-06-2014 12:32PM

Lads at the end of the day it's if things are tight you put in what you need and if you are in a position to afford it put in what you want simple as really. by all means look at everything but we all have our own preferences be it new tractors, parlours or keeping the money in our pockets.

joejobrien · 29-06-2014 12:37PM

Panch18 wrote: »

I really don't know what some lads are talking about or what kind of ACR's they're supposed to have

Dairymaster here, But they well ran into the ground on this thread earlier by some:D . Top class acrs and are overhead the lines thus allowing more light down into pit unlike some that are slanted below the milk line. Also i cant understand this dragging business from the cow maybe the cord is a bit long?

whelan2 · 29-06-2014 12:38PM

jaymla627 wrote: »

frazzledhome wrote: »

120 cows 16 units 1 hrs or less, why spend €16k+ for 10 minutes?

I was replying to Timmay who is talking of 14 units, Jesus you'd have them flicked over while the machine would be hanging them up.

Agree on drafting and feeding. All I'm doing is giving my opinion and I won't be wasting my money on them[/QUOT

Personally hate acrs have milked in parlours with and without and always find milking a lot quicker where they weren't installed, also find cows are alot more giddy inclined to dung the parlour with acrs.
Along with my biggest issue being when a cow dungs and the acr slides nicely through it not the best for your tbc plus the fact when your training in heifers they do have a great time snapping/rapping the cords around themselves

we have a grid where all cow crap goes, very handy, acrs have to be set right, rope has to be long enough etc, cant understand them lying in crap or on the floor. 1 lad that milks here rushes and gets the ropes caught, i dont have a problem with them

Deepsouthwest · 29-06-2014 12:38PM

Clear pattern emerging here, those with ACR's and plenty experience of them seem to think they're thebusiness and wouldn't be without. And those who don't with limited experience of them or only experience of very archaic versions of them think they're a waste of money. Just to nail my colours to the flag, I'm firmly in the first camp! And Tim my advice to u would be to visit and ideally milk in 5/6 parlours with them, instead of listening to guys who don't even have them.

RightTurnClyde · 29-06-2014 12:41PM

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Clear pattern emerging here, those with ACR's and plenty experience of them seem to think they're tge business and wouldn't be without. And those who don't with limited experience of them or only experience of very archaic versions of them think they're a waste of money. Just to nail my colours to the flag, I'm firmly in the first camp! And Tim my advice to u would be to visit and ideally milk in 5/6 parlours with them, instead of listening to guys who don't even have them.

+1, Very senseable

Greengrass1 · 29-06-2014 12:41PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

+1 they seem like an ancient job mine work as u described.gg whilst agreeing with u on getting grass,paddocks,roadways etc right. I get the distinct impression that you only don't like acrs or diet feeders or other such things because they don't fit the low cost template.technology andcways of making things easier and more efficient and shortening ur working day need to be embraced a lot more openly.the vast majority of us here are not at the scale or have the vast experience of frazzled .money is not that easy come by for lads starting out to fund land purchase .in my case land in my area just isn't there so I have to concentrate in maximising production and profit per cow and per hectare.

Never said they didn't suit low cist and I never told any one not to put them in I was just giving my experience from working in one every day for 4/5 mths and one 2 days every week for 2 yrs.
I've a friend at the min who went whole hog and spent 160k on 16 units and he could have improved the grazing area a lot more with 40k of that money

frazzledhome · 29-06-2014 12:43PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

+1 they seem like an ancient job mine work as u described.gg whilst agreeing with u on getting grass,paddocks,roadways etc right. I get the distinct impression that you only don't like acrs or diet feeders or other such things because they don't fit the low cost template.technology andcways of making things easier and more efficient and shortening ur working day need to be embraced a lot more openly.the vast majority of us here are not at the scale or have the vast experience of frazzled .money is not that easy come by for lads starting out to fund land purchase .in my case land in my area just isn't there so I have to concentrate in maximising production and profit per cow and per hectare.

That's it, like you say a lot bigger priorities than ACRs. I'd have drafting as standard. Roads, soil fertility cows etc vital.

For lads established and comfortable with all other things right by all means upgrade but for a guy starting or expanding ACRs etc aren't a priority IMV.

Lad on IFJ this week with Robot and still has to out in roads and paddocks. This is what salesmen can do. Cheap things like a pen paper and calculator aren't any good for a salesman. Put money saved into an electric gate to keep them away

milking parlours

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