Or "I met my mother and she got this for me"the answer usually is "a lot less than it cost to fix that tractor "
New milking parlour
- Thread starter FIAT 450
- Start date
My dad thought us going from a 6unit to a 14unit was total overkill 4yrs ago, I'll be up to 10rows next Yr in it.
kverneland es 80
Well-Known Member
same story here my mum thought we were nuts putting in a 24 unit gone over the 10 rows this yr
jay gatsby
Well-Known Member
The only thing is lads that work expands to fill the available space. In other words if you had 30 units you'd probably up the numbers to fill that too eventually. Doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing to do.
i often wonder about that too, i buy a new machine or put in some labour saving device every year which i tell myself will save me half an hour every day and it always does but i still end up working the same hours when i should in theory have knocked 3 hours off the day over the last 6 yrs :scratchhead:
jay gatsby
Well-Known Member
It's the natural inclination for most of us, the Labour saving doesn't stop you working, it allows you time to direct to another job. Same with the parlour, I'm only milking one hour now instead of 2 sure I can add 10 cows no problem and so on.
That's not to say that expansion isn't good but you need smart targets. If your aim is just to have less work you'll likely never achieve it. If you set the target that you want to finish by 6.30 five days a week you probably will achieve it.
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I actually think 10rows is too many lol, I'd happily be still at only 6rows, especially because say for here 20 units with acrs is still very comfy for one man. I'm unlikely to upgrade anyday soon because I'm moving well away from doing 14milkings a week myself.
kverneland es 80
Well-Known Member
We are at our limit here as well just tacked on a extra row as cow prices were bad last back-end .well burned out after doing 11 rows.used have no problem doing 19 rows in the old parlour but that was 13 yrs ago.
One thing I have to say here also, (esp in the context of the whole brexit mess ha), the TAMS grant has been absolutely fantastic for milking parlours in general, if it wasn't for it I'd almost definitely just lumped on 2 extra units onto the 6unit, bolloxed about at high rows instead of getting down to 6rows here at the time, and probably held back on expansion for longer, and there are alot of dairyfarmers around me who would of been similar.
Had the dairymaster guy out the other day to have a look at putting in the acrs, the frame of the parlour which crosses from 1 side to the other, 4 r 5 bars crossing in total they would have to be cut to allow the arm to swing in between the jars. No major hassle really i suppose ...
Fiat 450 (thats a new title by you is it ?) and humungus did/do ye have swing over arms with the jars ?
I need to make up my mind fast if i am to do something with my milking parlour.
Option 1 is as ye all know by now fit Acrs to existing parlour costong €13,000
Option 2 put in new 12 unit Parlour (without jars) into existing shed with Acrs and variable speed milk pump etc costing €23,500 thats with grant and trade in of old machine.
I need to make up my mind fast if i am to do something with my milking parlour.
Option 1 is as ye all know by now fit Acrs to existing parlour costong €13,000
Option 2 put in new 12 unit Parlour (without jars) into existing shed with Acrs and variable speed milk pump etc costing €23,500 thats with grant and trade in of old machine.
6600
Well-Known Member
Option 2 doesn't sound bad value at all. Vari speed milk pump is a good job, it's on the (long) list here!!
Could you make the parlour a bit longer in time or are you stuck for space?
Lets do some calculations
How wide is the pit ?
The remover pulls the cord ~2ft I think it is, please check this it might be 3ft. With a swingover arm the cluster will sit nicely at ust above waist height for you to attach it to cow, and the 2ft of pull will do its job perfectly.
Without a swingover arm, the cluster will be sitting between your knee and waist waiting for you to put it on I think, otherwise the 2-3ft extension will not have sufficient reach to attach to the cow.
Best thing to do is go visit someone with cluster removers WITHOUT swingover arms and see what they have to say, Im quite sure your milking machine service man will tell you someone who has a parlour with removers and without swingover arms.
How many units do you have at the min ?
Are you milking at the side or from the rear ? Cluster removers are more suitable for milking from the rear as from the side cows tend to put their feet over the cord etc.
Hard to believe that fundamental mistake was made in all the parlours that were built in the 60ties -90ties even, no one that ever changed would go back.
i don,t have acr,s but i would like them, can,t see myself spending that kinda money on them as i plan to give up milking in 3 yrs and i couldn,t justify them for such a short time
can you get grant aid to just put in the acrs into the existing parlour ?
fiatagri10090dt
Well-Known Member
All electric pumps will give up soon or later dm's are worse of all .diaphragm have there own bothers
fiatagri10090dt
Well-Known Member
Yeah .
kverneland es 80
Well-Known Member
Good job I believe. But can give seal trouble
We have a good few cows here with blackspot a serious problem, the vet was saying it could be the milking machine is at fault its a dairymaster we have so its 4x0 pulsation we dont have Acrs but r getting them he reckons the 4x0 cuould have caused it . We spray before hand and are dipping after milking with this virolac film now but any of this wont cure the cows that have it now
scoffcruddle
Well-Known Member
I haven’t seen any blackspot since we changed from 4x0 pulsation some 10 years ago,we treated it with mixed results using tetracycline spray in the morning and uddercream at night.
If you’ve no acrs make sure your not over milking.