OT; New milking equipment

Bruce from Can. · Feb 2, 2013

I put in some new milkers with auto-takeoffs , last week. the units are in pairs an run on a over head track. Milked with them now 3 times, cows and I are still trying to adjust!The wifw seems happy eh, how about her barn hat. Bruce

Vito · Feb 2, 2013

Nice setup.Tell your wife I give the hat a thumbs up!

Vito

rrlund · Feb 2, 2013

Got the built in meters and all? I saw those track systems in the AlfaLaval catalogue several times back when we were milking.

J.Wondergem · Feb 2, 2013

That looks like a nice set up. Are there a lot of stalls instead of milk parlors over your way? Nice looking hat, my wife used to wear a scarf when she milked for her Dad.

Adirondack case guy · Feb 2, 2013

Bruce,
Looks like Clinton Camp Majesty's juice ran out. Them cows lost their color and size. HeHe.
Glad to see that smaller dairies up there can continue to survive. Not many your size left around here, especially in stancion barns.
Loren

Paul from MI · Feb 2, 2013

Nice hat, looks a lot better than my Stormy Kromer!! The smile on her face makes it all worth it, the cows will adjust.

Bruce from Can. · Feb 2, 2013

Still more tie stall than free stall, but all new barns are free/parlour. Friend and his brother farm in partnership, and they just moved into a new barn, with a 24 carosel, with a slat floor free stall for 160. price tag... $2million. So I am happy with my tie stall , I can own.Bruce

Bruce from Can. · Feb 2, 2013

Yes Loren, the black and whites lost favor with me when multiple component pricing came along. They just pay better for high fat high protein milk. Still like to look at them though, especially when they are on green grass. Bruce

JayinNY · Feb 2, 2013

Yep, great pics, I'm sure you will like the new milkers after awhile.lol

farmer boy · Feb 2, 2013

My previous neighbour actually went from free stall to tie stall. Cleaner and he can buy the nicer cows. With the way his barn was before, there was too much risk buying the high dollar cows. Do these milkers have the built in meters, etc.

Bruce from Can. · Feb 2, 2013

Yes they do have meters, and conductive sensor that is to warn you if there is a cow with some mastitis trouble starting. Not so sure how well that will work, and DHI will not accept these meters for offical records. But I think they will do fine for herd managment. Bruce

Anonymous-0 · Feb 2, 2013

Nice looking dairy cattle. I love old barns and dairying. You could post pictures every day of the week.

Glenn F.

retired farmer · Feb 2, 2013

I think I saw that same equipment over at the Greeley, Colorado Farm Show on Wednesday.

PJH · Feb 2, 2013

I like it Bruce. Worked for a dairy farmer when I was in high school. Good People. I like your wife's hat! AND her smile! My kind of gal!!!

Paul

formerly ny bill · Feb 2, 2013

automatic takeoffs do take some learning time, especially if the cows are used to machine stripping at the end. when we put takeoffs in the new parlor (22 years ago), there were about 1/4 of the cows, mostly older, that we still had to machine strip. most adjusted by the time they freshened the next time. the takeoffs will definitely make milking easier for you.

ihman73 · Feb 2, 2013

Milking in tie stalls now that's folks that like to work. We quit in 2003 and have never looked back, we had a 4 stall parlor and freestall space for 65 but mostly ran 55 to 60. I was 22 when we quit, I looked into what it would take for me to take the dairying over from dad and decided not to endenture myself to the bank for eternity. The way the environazis and costs are now it was the best decision I've ever made. I hope everything goes well for you folks, those would have been nice when we were in the business. We only have 3 dairies left in our county and 2 of them are only at it still because they haven't got sense enough to quit. Those are both elderly folk in their upper 70's or 80's the other is a 140 cow run by a father son mostly son now that has been upgrading in stages for the last 10+ years and they are doing ok. We were so outdated we basically needed to start over almost completely and I just didn't see it panning out. And to think that was before the prices of stuff has gone crazy.

JD Seller · Feb 3, 2013

Bruce I like the track/trolley system your automatic take offs use. A good friend has them and you have to carry them from one pair to the next. It really makes for some extra lifting.

The Automatic take offs seem to have helped him lower his cell counts. The cows are completely milked but not over milked.

The meters are real handy for herd management too. You do not need the numbers to be as exact as the DHIA tests are. The numbers from you meters will be accurate enought for herd management.

samn40 · Feb 3, 2013

I noticed a lot of farms in Canada sttill milk in tie stalls and under the hay barn.....that took me back a bit!...But I bet it is warmer than modern parlours. You are doing right by upgrading gradually.I have watched a lot of dairy farms here build new on green field sites for well over100 cows and now they cannot pay their bills!
Good luck with your new units and you had luck finding a wife like that. Wives that help with milking and can smile like that are not easy found nowadays!
Sam

retired farmer · Feb 3, 2013

As much complaining as the dairy farmers do about not making money somebody must be buying the product. I am about one mile from a guy that two years ago was running about fifteen hundred head. Has increased up to around twenty two hundred head. I am sure he isn't doing it for his health either.

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 3, 2013

A lot of tie stalls around here too so the same reason. I've been in a few barns with robot milkers now, the farmers say its quite a lifestyle change. Met one fellow working as an electrician, he still has 60 ladies on a robot at the farm. He takes time off 3 or 4 times a summer to get all his silage in. Barn has a scraper and manure pump to his lagoon. There is pasture near the barn they can access in the summer but have to go through the milker to get grain and water. It will milk them 3 times a day.

paul · Feb 3, 2013

Nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Helped my neighbor milk a couple times, don't know how you do all the work, afford all the equipment, and time.

Hope these grain prices settle down a bit. I imagine prices are tough up there as well.

Paul

Anonymous-0 · Feb 3, 2013

Enjoyed the pictures but they made me sad. I used to have a herd of Jerseys. Sold them in '97. Missed them many times. If I had known everything I know now at the time, I might still have them. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But it's not always that way when you get there. How many do you milk? I milked in a stanchion barn and it is a lot of work. If you are your own boss and have a happy woman helping you, you've got it made.

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 3, 2013

A lot of tie stalls around here too so the same reason. I've been in a few barns with robot milkers now, the farmers say its quite a lifestyle change. Met one fellow working as an electrician, he still has 60 ladies on a robot at the farm. He takes time off 3 or 4 times a summer to get all his silage in. Barn has a scraper and manure pump to his lagoon. There is pasture near the barn they can access in the summer but have to go through the milker to get grain and water. It will milk them 3 times a day.

El Toro · Feb 3, 2013

I helped my dad with the morning milking until I was drafted into the Army during the Korean War.
We were milking about 40 Guernseys. Barn was warm as toast during the Winter. About 4 or 5 years ago I had a man from WI stop by for a visit. He use to post on here. He was the herdsman in WI where they were milking 1500 Holsteins 3 times a day. Had crews working 3 eight hour shifts. I can't imagine how much feed was used and the amount of manure produced. Hal

Anonymous-0 · Feb 3, 2013

Nice pics, love the Brown Swiss cows, don't see herds of them much any more. Too many black and white cows. Milked Brown Swiss in a tie stall barn for a friend for 5 years. I quit and they built a parlor. Now all gone.

Spook · Feb 3, 2013

Canada is different.

J.Wondergem · Feb 3, 2013

It sure would have been nice for me back in the 50s, rolling out of bed in the morning, milking and cleaning the stables before walking to school, because sometime I'd fall to sleep with my arm on the cows back, then get yelled at for not taking the milker off on time.

OT; New milking equipment

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