Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Parallel parlors
: Similar to herringbone parlors; cows are milked from the rear between
their hind legs, which provides less udder visibility than the herringbone design. The
walking distance between cows is shorter than in the herringbone design.
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Side opening parlors
: Cows stand head to tail in these stalls. The walking distance in this
systemlimitsthenumberofstallsyoucanuseinthisdesign,butsomefarmerspreferthis
type of milking system because the entire cow is visible and can be checked for health.
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Rotary parlor:
Inthissystem,themilkerstandsinonespotwhilecowsarerotatedaround
as if on a carousel. This system is efficient, but labor intensive, because cows are rotated
by in a matter of seconds. It probably is cost effective only on very large dairies.
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Swing parlor
: In this system, two groups of cows stand in the parlor, one on each side of
the operator, and one side is milked before the operator swings the hoses to the animals
on the other side. When not in use, the milking hoses hang in the operator area. Cows
are milked from the rear between their hind legs. Swing parlors are a popular option now
because they are cheaper to install than other parlor types, but still increase the number
of cows that can be milked in an hour.
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Walkthrough parlors
: Cows enter from the rear, are milked on a platform, and exit for-
ward through a gate.
You want the entire process for each milking to take less than two and a half hours because
you want your cattle to be out in the pasture where they can eat and rest. In hot weather, many
farmers delay the day's second milking until the evening when it is cooler. You also can use
fans to cool cattle. Some dairy farmers invest in mist cooling systems to keep cows comfort-
able because heat-stressed cattle produce less milk per day than cows that are comfortable.
Milk production can drop about 2 pounds per cow on days when temperatures top 90 degrees,
according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers.
Milk cooling equipment
If you plan to have a small operation, your cooling system may not be much more complic-
ated than bottles and refrigerators. Many dairies use pipelines to transport milk from the par-
lor into the milk house, where the refrigerated storage tanks are kept. The temperature of milk
is about 101 degrees when it leaves the udder and must be cooled to 38 to 45 degrees within
two hours of milking to keep it fresh. A farmer with a small herd that sells raw milk off the
farm could pour milk through a filter straight into bottles that customers take home. Most
