Once a day milking

OAD milking would eliminate a labour hire challenge that may arise ? , any dairy man of significant size i know has trouble getting people to milk ?

maybe those fellas are just too tight to pay properly ?
 
these lads you get in then Tim do they do the whole lot them self’s scraping and liming cubicles, milking,washing the parlour ,washing the machine etc ??..
 
I know very little on milk. But remember reading an article on various styles of OAD milking.
One thing to consider is if you want 24hr milking intervals.
Or 18hr intervals.
18hr I think had higher yields.
 
I read an article that said you could milk cows once a day for the first 8 weeks of their lactation and then go back to twice a day without reducing annual milk solids. There was another article a while back where a lad was doing something like this to reduce labour requirements around calving. Calves were fed twice a day and cows were milked oad for the first 8 weeks. Then when the calves were old enough he would go back to twice a day milking and once a day feeding
 
I know very little on milk. But remember reading an article on various styles of OAD milking.
One thing to consider is if you want 24hr milking intervals.
Or 18hr intervals.
18hr I think had higher yields.

So if you milk at 6 in the morning, the next milking is at 12 midnight and the next is at 6 in the evening, twice a day would nearly be better

Is someone actually doing that
 
So if you milk at 6 in the morning, the next milking is at 12 midnight and the next is at 6 in the evening, twice a day would nearly be better

Is someone actually doing that
3 in 2 so 3 milkings done in 2 days rather than 4 milkings , theres a project focused on it in NZ you can sign up to get fortnightly email updates. Really interesting actually doing the 3in2 is as good as milking twice a day with milk solids at end of year very similar , not sure if it would be much of a labour reduction though as you are really set to times dont think it works as 18 18 18 I think its more divided into realistic hours so your not wmilking at crazy hours of the night but still would be hard to commit to the different times on different days i think tad is easier than trying to work all that.

 
these lads you get in then Tim do they do the whole lot them self’s scraping and liming cubicles, milking,washing the parlour ,washing the machine etc ??..
40€ the wage for a simple milking podge, bring cows in milk them wash machine and lock cows out again .. should be usually an under 2hour job from time milker comes into yard to time milker leaves yard, scraping and liming cubicles would be another half hour on top of that on a different wage id say. How long does milking take you at the moment and are you happy milking in your parlour?
 
So if you milk at 6 in the morning, the next milking is at 12 midnight and the next is at 6 in the evening, twice a day would nearly be better

Is someone actually doing that
Sounds daft doesn't it. But I think if you milked 10Am..... 4Am...... 10pm..... 4pm it makes more sense.
You had 18hrs downtime between milkings. You only get 16 between a 9-5 job. Add a commute into that...

Mf310 explains it better than me
 
1h 15m is what milking takes at the moment ,and ya I suppose I am happy with the parlour acrs fitted a year and a half ago which is a big help .
 
A man of my acquaintance milked once a day in 07 and 08 . He was in his late 50s at the time , milking 55 cows , in a 4 unit abreast . Farming by himself , half a long day would have been taken up milking if he had milked twice.
It "Was the only job " , according to him at that time . He just couldn't face milking the 2nd time was the real reason.
He did the OAD for 2 years .
Then , in 09 , when milk prices collapsed , he went back milking twice a day , as " I can only carry 60 odd cows , and there's not enough out of them milking OAD . He built a parlour, putting in a sh 10 unit machine.
I never heard him mention milking once a day since. And he is still milking , and I think 71 years of age now.
 
1h 15m is what milking takes at the moment ,and ya I suppose I am happy with the parlour acrs fitted a year and a half ago which is a big help .
1hr15min is good shouldnt be much bother getting a lad to milk a few days a week if you wanted Especially for the next while with the way college is for young lads thered be alot of lads very flexible still at home. Acrs would be a nice addition alright, things i see myself going around milking that make a nice difference to the mood is having a good radio in the parlour and even simple things like good lights in the parlour/mats in the pit and light clusters. Its the simple things that make a difference sometimes too
 
I'd agree . I'm hoping to have things organized and finances under control in a few years to just keep dry stock and take it handy .

The milking is the easy part its calving them ,getting calves going and all the rest of the work that's the hard part.

I will believe it when I see it ,
When you aren't surrounded by your ladies ?
Did you buy any yesterday at the clearance sale ?

I , the same as @humungus , would have enough of years done at the job , to find the novelty gone from it.

In previous generations this situation didn't arise.
Lads left school , and stayed at home farming , the father then left the milking to the son , and drove around doing the herding etc.
 
I will believe it when I see it ,
When you aren't surrounded by your ladies ?
Did you buy any yesterday at the clearance sale ?

I , the same as @humungus , would have enough of years done at the job , to find the novelty gone from it.

In previous generations this situation didn't arise.
Lads left school , and stayed at home farming , the father then left the milking to the son , and drove around doing the herding etc.

Looked in at clearance sale. Believe it or not I've been milking cows for 20 years already. Admittedly only full time for 14 or 15.
Circumstances surrounding said clearance would make me think about not working myself into the ground ,that said I don't mind milking.
Not a lot else to do this winter now that everywhere is locked down.
 
I am at it with a bit myself but only 46 years imo your not paid for the hardship .Plenty of hassle with tbc with the last few months got me thinking there are surely easier ways to make a living .I am back in numbers this year so will cost me big euro to buy cows for the coming year .I have 40 acres around parlour and another 40 acres rented for silage and rough grazing a few miles away .I was wondering would I need much more rented ground and numbers to scratch a living out of rearing calves or fattening bullock
 
I'd agree . I'm hoping to have things organized and finances under control in a few years to just keep dry stock and take it handy .

The milking is the easy part its calving them ,getting calves going and all the rest of the work that's the hard part.
You'll end up buying a new tractor and going out drawing silage for some contractor or trucking cattle to put down the day....
 
I am at it with a bit myself but only 46 years imo your not paid for the hardship .Plenty of hassle with tbc with the last few months got me thinking there are surely easier ways to make a living .I am back in numbers this year so will cost me big euro to buy cows for the coming year .I have 40 acres around parlour and another 40 acres rented for silage and rough grazing a few miles away .I was wondering would I need much more rented ground and numbers to scratch a living out of rearing calves or fattening bullock

unless you are highly educated or in the public sector , money is hard earned these days , fellas driving and delivering for a living often do 50% extra hours over the advertised and end up with little more than minimum wage , they do a few hours work every day at the depot before getting behind the wheel , know a few lads at it
 
Ya I am milking cows with nearly 15 years now too it gets tiring but is the best of a bad lot at the end of the day I suppose .
I dunno how I would do it if I was on my own to be honest .
 
I find milking relaxing, it signals the end of a day, if shite went wrong you can vent to the cows (they don't mind) and by the end of it you'll wonder why your were so worked up I the first place. 🥴
My father had a workman turn up Stephens day looking to go ploughing to clear his head after the stress of Christmas. He stayed happily married to the same person until he died. The turmoil of some minor domestic dispute against the rhythm of ploughing .
 
At home here at the cows with 30 yrs, as above when I came home from ag college and placement it was straight in to milking but used to get plenty of time off.we don't milk on Sunday evening from the middle of oct until drying off and the parlour is shut down for Christmas and new yr .find it great to recharge the batteries.
 
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