Milking parlour

I woudlnt have much interest in renting land id rather have a few less animals on hands. I should have mentioned earlier in d thread i wouldnt be going for a new parlour id rather a second hand unit bells and whistles dont bother me here ease of use and it working good is all that would matter.


It doesnt bother what other lads are doing i can see d way some lads are spending theyl be broke. I know of a farmer that expanded a good bit and now cant afford his repayments doesnt know what to do apparently. I can see myself leaving my job in a few years id like to have something to fall back on and be my own boss. Factory work doesnt suit me great to be honest
Go back to education and forget cows if your gonna milk and work you’ll be fucked. A few years is a long time when your trying to do two jobs
 
To milk 50 or 60 cows by the time you’ve everything done you’ll be paying out 100k at least. 100k to work every morning and evening and weekend until you can give up your job doesn’t sound like a great investment. I’m not trying to put you off but there seems to be some all is roses in milking kind of outlook at the moment when in fact most of the time it’s a hard slog and your not making huge money. Add in a wide and kids and the two jobs and it’s a recipe for disaster.
 
Prob get shot for this but a 10unit jar plant might be a good start. Put your jars up over your head and a dump line. 2ft, 6 centres and narrow up the pit so you don't need swing over arms. Rope down the pit to open the gate. You have a 1st hand view of yields and could pick out a sick cow real quick. We milked 130 in a 14 unit jar plant was a humdinger of a plant
 
What sort of a budget had you in mind
Dont have a set budget but as cheap as possible and have a semi decent/ modern setup
Go back to education and forget cows if your gonna milk and work you’ll be fucked. A few years is a long time when your trying to do two jobs
Education is out of d picture for me iv 2 young kids and my wife is a stay at home mother youngest born last year just before covid so were dependent on my income. I also wouldn't be d best for school work i always found it hard to settle down and study d mind always racing
Prob get shot for this but a 10unit jar plant might be a good start. Put your jars up over your head and a dump line. 2ft, 6 centres and narrow up the pit so you don't need swing over arms. Rope down the pit to open the gate. You have a 1st hand view of yields and could pick out a sick cow real quick. We milked 130 in a 14 unit jar plant was a humdinger of a plant
I wouldnt be against it to be honest something simple like that would do me i wouldnt be high maintenance. Its an old jar plant thats here at d minute vacuum pump wouldn't be great on it

Also should have mentioned earlier in d thread that arrabawn is who d father always supplied but lakelands and glanbia both pick up around here
 
Theres no room to go back any further without taking away from collecting yard. I had thoughts about getting a second hand 8 unit for d existing shed. I want to make it as efficient as possible as i work 40 hours and cant afford to give it up for a few years yet
There's a few different ways of being efficient. We started off in a 7 unit milking 70 cows, while the row was milking, I used get a pen of calves fed. So when finished milking, I was finished for the morning. With 8 units, you'll have a small bit of time on your hands between rounds at peak milk alright but that's one of the costs for low cost, I suppose. If you're manually feeding ration, that will take up a bit of that dead time filling troughs until you decide you want some automatic feeders. Been there for years with a JFC 200L wheelbarrow and scoop :smile:

10 units at 2'2" centers means a pit length of around 25 foot with tidy steps at the front and back. What you lose from the yard would be small, just a small bit out of the center where the pit extends but that can be done down the line as well if you buy a plant that can be added onto. A Delaval VP76 for example would be ideal for an 8 unit and would still have enough vacuum reserve to go to 10 units easily.
 
There's a few different ways of being efficient. We started off in a 7 unit milking 70 cows, while the row was milking, I used get a pen of calves fed. So when finished milking, I was finished for the morning. With 8 units, you'll have a small bit of time on your hands between rounds at peak milk alright but that's one of the costs for low cost, I suppose. If you're manually feeding ration, that will take up a bit of that dead time filling troughs until you decide you want some automatic feeders. Been there for years with a JFC 200L wheelbarrow and scoop :smile:

10 units at 2'2" centers means a pit length of around 25 foot with tidy steps at the front and back. What you lose from the yard would be small, just a small bit out of the center where the pit extends but that can be done down the line as well if you buy a plant that can be added onto. A Delaval VP76 for example would be ideal for an 8 unit and would still have enough vacuum reserve to go to 10 units easily.
D issue with automatic feeders is theres nowhere to put up a bin. 1 side of d dairy is d cattle crush which i intend to redo and d other side is a safety manhole for agitating a cubicle house but i do agree it would save serious time having auto feeders in
 
D issue with automatic feeders is theres nowhere to put up a bin. 1 side of d dairy is d cattle crush which i intend to redo and d other side is a safety manhole for agitating a cubicle house but i do agree it would save serious time having auto feeders in
Without knowing your setup exactly it's amazing where a bin can be sited to supply augers in a parlour. You'd be surprised how easy it can be sorted
 
Speaking from experience, you'll find lots of negativity when it comes to converting to dairy. Avoid those people like the plague. If you have the ambition and desire to make it happen, go for it. If you plan on continuing to work full-time, it might be work looking into once-a-day milking or else factoring in the cost of a relief milker a couple of evenings a week.
 
Without knowing your setup exactly it's amazing where a bin can be sited to supply augers in a parlour. You'd be surprised how easy it can be sorted
Il try do a rough drawing or snap a picture off google earth to show it. Its hard to explain when lads dont know d layout

Speaking from experience, you'll find lots of negativity when it comes to converting to dairy. Avoid those people like the plague. If you have the ambition and desire to make it happen, go for it. If you plan on continuing to work full-time, it might be work looking into once-a-day milking or else factoring in the cost of a relief milker a couple of evenings a week.
Im not to bad for a relief milker my father is still on d go here hes 60 now so id like to have an easy to use and simple setup and to have him doing d minimum hardship. Its all only plans at d minute i could change my mind and decide to do something different
 
Without knowing your setup exactly it's amazing where a bin can be sited to supply augers in a parlour. You'd be surprised how easy it can be sorted
Art wouldnt be my strongest point but where d yellow line is d existing crush parlour is red green is d dairy and blue line is d agitation point
3832D14F-2457-4AF6-9127-C0BABB60A18B.jpeg
 
I’ve an auger from my bin running some 200’ or more,never had any bother but I did set it up with two separate motors,one half way.

My father in-law filled his feed hoppers every day with a wheelbarrow,wouldn’t have been so bad but the feed bin was up a hill and at the other end of the farm,ffs an hour and I’d have had the bin moved outside the parlour door,some people can make everything hard work.
 
I’ve an auger from my bin running some 200’ or more,never had any bother but I did set it up with two separate motors,one half way.

My father in-law filled his feed hoppers every day with a wheelbarrow,wouldn’t have been so bad but the feed bin was up a hill and at the other end of the farm,ffs an hour and I’d have had the bin moved outside the parlour door,some people can make everything hard work.
My augers broke last year. Service man was on holidays. I filled them twice a day for a week. My arms were a foot longer after it . In fairness he came straight from the airport and spent half a day fixing them.
 
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My augers broke last year. Service man was on holidays. I filled them twice a day for a week. My arms were a foot longer after it . In fairness he came straight from the airport and spent half a day fixing them. They are old orby feeders
Father in-law did it for over 20 years,when they got 100 milking he had to fill them twice a day,there were 2 milking with just 8 machines,efficiency never came into it.
 
Plenty of poultry sheds running augers longer than that on one motor.
I set it all up myself and didn’t want it under pressure,it lifts 22’up from the bin for a start,my main concern was turning the nuts into meal.
 
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Speaking from experience, you'll find lots of negativity when it comes to converting to dairy. Avoid those people like the plague. If you have the ambition and desire to make it happen, go for it. If you plan on continuing to work full-time, it might be work looking into once-a-day milking or else factoring in the cost of a relief milker a couple of evenings a week.
I’m not meaning to be negative. But I am being realistic. No point surrounding yourself with yes men either. The true story is better then the one from either side. The once a day won’t pay its way starting off on 60 cows and to find a good reliable guy for milking every day can be done but they are hard to keep. You don’t want to be wearing out your old fella wit work either at this stage of his life. I work on my own here mostly with over 100 cows, I’ve cut back this year as I’m financially able to do so. I wouldn’t do it the same way again. Financial pressure and lots of work isn’t a great lifestyle. Also looking after a family with one income on sixty cows would involve lots of sacrifice on things.
 
Put in a decent size of parlour starting of 14 or 16 units and do it once.good 2nd hand parlour not that hard got particulary in the north.
As @Neat says no point in been a slave or expecting your father to do all.
I'm on my own here aswell with young pre school kids. We do not live in a dairy area and its not easy to get people to milk.end up training in 15 or 16 yr olds and get them for a yr or two.then there gone to college jobs etc. I have been reasonable lucky so far as to getting ones worth training cause they are scarce.
If you have an old small parlour with lots of rows i do know from personal experience that the bucks will say they wouldn't milk if they get hardship and spending time milking.
While they are young and probaly inexperienced you would never get away for a day / weekend or a holiday. And yes I have had some broseess to deal with when you get back but it's stay home or let them at it.
Alot of farms are still family labour with relief miller from time to time despite what you see in the media about calf rearers , herdsman manager relief milkers etc
 
A man I know had his nephews doing weekends and he upped cow numbers to a few extra rows and it did not suit the nephews as the extra time interfered with football and study.
 
I’m not meaning to be negative. But I am being realistic. No point surrounding yourself with yes men either. The true story is better then the one from either side. The once a day won’t pay its way starting off on 60 cows and to find a good reliable guy for milking every day can be done but they are hard to keep. You don’t want to be wearing out your old fella wit work either at this stage of his life. I work on my own here mostly with over 100 cows, I’ve cut back this year as I’m financially able to do so. I wouldn’t do it the same way again. Financial pressure and lots of work isn’t a great lifestyle. Also looking after a family with one income on sixty cows would involve lots of sacrifice on things.
Agreed, it's important to weigh up all your options before you make your decision. A complete swot analysis. But, after you make your decision avoid negative people. After giving up a permanent pensionable job to start milking cows I had to give up talking to a few people because they couldn't stop telling me how mad I was.
60 cows once a day might work for some people, good reliable help might be available, everyone's situation is different.
 
I’m not meaning to be negative. But I am being realistic. No point surrounding yourself with yes men either. The true story is better then the one from either side. The once a day won’t pay its way starting off on 60 cows and to find a good reliable guy for milking every day can be done but they are hard to keep. You don’t want to be wearing out your old fella wit work either at this stage of his life. I work on my own here mostly with over 100 cows, I’ve cut back this year as I’m financially able to do so. I wouldn’t do it the same way again. Financial pressure and lots of work isn’t a great lifestyle. Also looking after a family with one income on sixty cows would involve lots of sacrifice on things.
I understand where ur coming from. I dont think once a day would pay. If i could get going i can go back on day shift 8am to 4pm in work. Right now 3 cycle has me all out of sync. Id like to keep d fathers work to a minimum but enough to keep him happy and occupied. When things free up d woman wants to go working even if only part time
Put in a decent size of parlour starting of 14 or 16 units and do it once.good 2nd hand parlour not that hard got particulary in the north.
As @Neat says no point in been a slave or expecting your father to do all.
I'm on my own here aswell with young pre school kids. We do not live in a dairy area and its not easy to get people to milk.end up training in 15 or 16 yr olds and get them for a yr or two.then there gone to college jobs etc. I have been reasonable lucky so far as to getting ones worth training cause they are scarce.
If you have an old small parlour with lots of rows i do know from personal experience that the bucks will say they wouldn't milk if they get hardship and spending time milking.
While they are young and probaly inexperienced you would never get away for a day / weekend or a holiday. And yes I have had some broseess to deal with when you get back but it's stay home or let them at it.
Alot of farms are still family labour with relief miller from time to time despite what you see in the media about calf rearers , herdsman manager relief milkers etc
If i went to a 14 unit id have to put up a new building for it. Theres space there for a new building and yards without knocking any existing buildings. D parlour thats in now wouldnt have been d most user friendly thats what has it in my head to get a better second hand machine that would do a few years. Id be keeping work to a minimum for my father. Id rather leave most of slurry work and silage to contractors that would leave it a bit handier.
Agreed, it's important to weigh up all your options before you make your decision. A complete swot analysis. But, after you make your decision avoid negative people. After giving up a permanent pensionable job to start milking cows I had to give up talking to a few people because they couldn't stop telling me how mad I was.
60 cows once a day might work for some people, good reliable help might be available, everyone's situation is different.
Im weighing up all options i just cant see much other opportunities for d farm here to make much money. Some very heavey land that can be hard traveled but isnt too bad for grazing. I cant see mysef quitting my job yet id rather be working on and off farm for a while to help pay off bills. Im in a lucky enough position that we live in d home house still so no mortgage were doing up d house room by room. Its big enough for my parents and us. 1 sister lives in town and d other is in england so their happy enough seeing me here
 
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