building milking parlour

toyotad4d

Castlekeeper wrote: »

If you have functioning straight troughs, put in a zig zag rump rail, it's one or the other anyway. Steel troughs will cost money and will rust.

Put in your 10 units at 3', the only reason people went less than 2'6" was to squeeze in cows, the straighter the cow is the better for cow flow. 10 units will milk up to 100, ideal for 80, make your money first and build your fancy parlour when you need it, i.e. 120 cows. Nobody has problems with cows kicking unless there's something bad wrong.
Talk to local Teagasc man about joining a discussion group and go to see plenty parlours. Be wary of sales men.

Hi all im taking out old concreat trough and putting in zig zag managers but would like to know what distance should i put on the first feed manager piece ( piece that needs to be bolted onto wall ) from the pole that is holding on the exit gate my parlour is a 3 ft centre i was told 4ft also what is the recommend width of the passage where the cows stand while milking them my one is only 63 inches from the main wall and the old concreat trough is about a foot and a half from main wall so cows have little space was wondering will i get away without having to widen it as the zig zag feed managers would be giving cows extra space for their front legs it has 6ft pit this parlour was build over 30 years ago has straight rump raills its a night mare most of the time milking in it even though its only 6 unit tis f**kn stressful while milking. incorrect measurements when it was build i was told

Timmaay

You've explained it in good detail, but still hard to understand 2bh, If I were you I'd get onto one or two of the parlour installation lads, and get them to look at the parlour. The design of herringbone parlours has actually come on a huge amount in 30yrs, the stallwork etc in ourown 6unit is probably 40yrs old, and similarly an utter nightmare, esp for large HOs. My parlour repairman was down last year, and pulled out a tape and was able to rattle off about 10 key measurements, most of which were out on my parlour.

Viewtodiefor

I know exactly what you are talking about here.
Firstly what kind of cows are you milking? Holstien, fr crosse, jex?

What centres do you want is it 2'6" or 3'?

Are the falls in your floors correct ? what way does it fall and by how much?

Timmaay

I don't know how anyone milks with 3ft centres (ie units going infront of the cows leg), ours is a badly designed 2ft6 centre parlour, but you often have to put the units infront of the leg, Any sort of temperamental cow and she will kickoff units, and during the winter now, when you at least wipe, and often prestripe spins, your arms will be black and blue from getting kicked!

awaywithyou

jersey101 wrote: »

ye atm were using buckets, put the meal down first and then bring them in, i wouldn't have a hope getting cows up in the parlour with 12 troughs full of meal. The only thing is if ive an odd number in the parlour, say 8 how do i feed them 8 cows? And you cant individualy feed the wonter cows either

Get in touch with dairymaster bout there batch feeders... They hav a shut off valve between each feeder which means if you've 8 to feed in a 12 unit.. Turn off valve after 8th feeder and you'll feed just the 8 cows you want fed....


Tell them I sent ya...I'm flavour of the month with them at the moment:D

awaywithyou

Timmaay wrote: »

I don't know how anyone milks with 3ft centres (ie units going infront of the cows leg), ours is a badly designed 2ft6 centre parlour, but you often have to put the units infront of the leg, Any sort of temperamental cow and she will kickoff units, and during the winter now, when you at least wipe, and often prestripe spins, your arms will be black and blue from getting kicked!

3ft centres a sick carry on.... Can be a disaster with cows... But it's a complete disaster with heifers....

toyotad4d

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

I know exactly what you are talking about here.
Firstly what kind of cows are you milking? Holstien, fr crosse, jex?

What centres do you want is it 2'6" or 3'?

Are the falls in your floors correct ? what way does it fall and by how much?

im milking fr cows they wouldnt b as big as holstiens but are good strong cows about 50/50 holstien/ fr if you no what i mean like it is a 6 unit 3ft centre parlour but iv decided to make it into a 2.6 centre iv broken out the straight concreat trough today and i will b putting in new feed managers shortly these feed managers are made for parlours with 2.6 so i will be able to fit 2 more units into my parlour without having to break down any walls The main question is how wide will i have to make the passage were the cows stand while milking this measurement must be from the main wall were the managers will be bolted onto to the kerb and how long should it be from the pole holding on the front gate to the end for eight unit parlour I do know that the gate should be when closed at 50 degrees angle the pit at the moment is 6 ft wide and the passage where cows stand when milking at the moment is 63 inches from main wall to end of kerb. The cows only had about 45 ish inches when the old straight concret trough was in it

Viewtodiefor

toyotad4d wrote: »

im milking fr cows they wouldnt b as big as holstiens but are good strong cows about 50/50 holstien/ fr if you no what i mean like it is a 6 unit 3ft centre parlour but iv decided to make it into a 2.6 centre iv broken out the straight concreat trough today and i will b putting in new feed managers shortly these feed managers are made for parlours with 2.6 so i will be able to fit 2 more units into my parlour without having to break down any walls The main question is how wide will i have to make the passage were the cows stand while milking this measurement must be from the main wall were the managers will be bolted onto to the kerb and how long should it be from the pole holding on the front gate to the end for eight unit parlour I do know that the gate should be when closed at 50 degrees angle the pit at the moment is 6 ft wide and the passage where cows stand when milking at the moment is 63 inches from main wall to end of kerb. The cows only had about 45 ish inches when the old straight concret trough was in it

From wall to edge of pit should be 74/75 inches. You should have 2.5" lip on the pit side inside your 4 uprights to prevent cows falling into pit or their legs falling in. This is usually achieved wit kerbing.

Viewtodiefor

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

From wall to edge of pit should be 74/75 inches. You should have 2.5" lip on the pit side inside your 4 uprights to prevent cows falling into pit or their legs falling in. This is usually achieved wit kerbing.

Around page 26 may help

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/FarmBldgsConfProceedings.pdf

visatorro

toyotad4d wrote: »

im milking fr cows they wouldnt b as big as holstiens but are good strong cows about 50/50 holstien/ fr if you no what i mean like it is a 6 unit 3ft centre parlour but iv decided to make it into a 2.6 centre iv broken out the straight concreat trough today and i will b putting in new feed managers shortly these feed managers are made for parlours with 2.6 so i will be able to fit 2 more units into my parlour without having to break down any walls The main question is how wide will i have to make the passage were the cows stand while milking this measurement must be from the main wall were the managers will be bolted onto to the kerb and how long should it be from the pole holding on the front gate to the end for eight unit parlour I do know that the gate should be when closed at 50 degrees angle the pit at the moment is 6 ft wide and the passage where cows stand when milking at the moment is 63 inches from main wall to end of kerb. The cows only had about 45 ish inches when the old straight concret trough was in it

i did the same job a couple of years ago. i left it seventy inches from the wall to the curb. the framework is sixty eight inches from the wall. i have medium sized cows and i could have left it even an inch narrower. it happened a couple of times that a cow was able to push back and get caught in the manger behind her. i think from from the front pole back the where the gate at the back closes is two hundred and thiry inches

toyotad4d

Viewtodiefor wrote: »

Around page 26 may help

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/FarmBldgsConfProceedings.pdf

Thanks ya i was talking to tom ryan dismorn and he told me alot about dimentions and sizes but il be making my passage around 70-72 inches itl suit my cows hopefully

toyotad4d

visatorro wrote: »

i did the same job a couple of years ago. i left it seventy inches from the wall to the curb. the framework is sixty eight inches from the wall. i have medium sized cows and i could have left it even an inch narrower. it happened a couple of times that a cow was able to push back and get caught in the manger behind her. i think from from the front pole back the where the gate at the back closes is two hundred and thiry inches

Thanks for the info il be making the passage 70 inches aswell but was told to keep the bottom bar of the rum raill about 65 or 66 inches from the wall

Injuryprone

If you're building a milking parlour under the same roof as the cubicle shed, does the parlour have to be walled off to the roof and completely sealed off? I know the dairy does but I didn't think it was the case for the parlour. But teagasc advisor disagrees with me

jaymla627

Injuryprone wrote: »

If you're building a milking parlour under the same roof as the cubicle shed, does the parlour have to be walled off to the roof and completely sealed off? I know the dairy does but I didn't think it was the case for the parlour. But teagasc advisor disagrees with me

Our parlours only got 4 foot high walls, cubicle sheds under same roof have been inspected by department lad and he said noting so im guessing your Teagasc lads talkin crap.
RE walls cows are much happier been able to see around them when milked also no high walls means a lot brighter parlour

jersey101

awaywithyou wrote: »

Get in touch with dairymaster bout there batch feeders... They hav a shut off valve between each feeder which means if you've 8 to feed in a 12 unit.. Turn off valve after 8th feeder and you'll feed just the 8 cows you want fed....


Tell them I sent ya...I'm flavour of the month with them at the moment:D

cant buy any other make machine or feeders here only fullwood. The uncle would disown me if i did. Im getting a very good deal on the parlour and feeders and milk tank thanks to him

toyotad4d

awaywithyou wrote: »

Get in touch with dairymaster bout there batch feeders... They hav a shut off valve between each feeder which means if you've 8 to feed in a 12 unit.. Turn off valve after 8th feeder and you'll feed just the 8 cows you want fed....


Tell them I sent ya...I'm flavour of the month with them at the moment:D

how much are d dairymaster batch feeders tinking of putting them in in janurary any problems with them do the augers ever get cloged or anything itl be for an 8 unit parlour

hay_for_sale

jayk1 wrote: »

hi all, thinking of starting up dairy on the home farm again. have a lofted 16.6ft x 4 span long dairy on the farm no longer in use. was a 8unit 3ftcentres parlour in it with room for 2 more units.
seeing as ya would be milking for d nxt 30+ years, would you get the old shed up and goin with a 3ft parlour or widen it n go for 2.6, 2.4 parlour?

Just wondering did you widen the parlour in the end? I'm in the same situation but widening seems like a huge job. wall to wall in my parlour is 15ft8