AI facilities

[regolith]

I saw an article in the paper yesterday about a company that makes portable yards producing an AI bail for dairy farms. So I followed some links to try and find out more.

These are the standards farmers are required to provide before an AI technician will call in to their farm. I trained up to do my own in 2007 but a quick glance at that link makes it obvious my herd never would comply. They want *two* people present to handle the cattle every time the technician turns up.
That automatically rules out every one-man operation in the country, no matter how many new mats and rails and roofs they install.
https://www.lic.co.nz/products-and-services/artificial-breeding-services/ab-facility-standards/

Out of goodness knows how many farms I've been on over the years *one* of them had an AI race that was workable; it was a recent build. And it was extremely useful. I manage here, with a nice wide painter's bench in the pit behind the cows and adjusting the row if needed to ensure the cow that needs serviced isn't close to a vertical rail. Most of the farms I worked on before I got my own herd the technician loaded the cows wrong-side on into the herringbone one at a time and stood behind them. To do that, requires strength that I don't have (I've tried it; the cows automatically try to move into milking position with their butt against the rump rail and it takes someone far bigger than me to prevent them from doing so).
I'm wondering how many farmers will train to AI to avoid complying with upgrades to facilities that worked just fine for several decades.
But I'm also wondering what the new AI bail costs, and the links don't tell me that (a one-cow unit is priced at $NZ7500 but that's basically a short alley with a blind end and some strategic gates).
https://www.tepari.com/nz/blog/catt...T09V2xhg3SJpbHaxmuoEgn4YKEeKAj0hcxT9Kfmfc7x1H

 

[regolith]

the double race pictured makes sense. During milking, cows choose their side and don't always translate well to the other side if pushed in there... some will try to stand with their head hanging over the pit at their accustomed angle.
The two farms I took the herd to that had an ab race, the herd had to be trained a few times to use it correctly. On one farm, it was then used regularly for vet work and tail painting and trimming as well as AI - I tried using it to drench calves with mineral but there was too much room for the calves to turn around and no suitably narrow area built in - the ab race either exited the cows or continued on to a headbail stance but with the area immediately behind the headbail still wide enough for an adult cow to turn around in if she chose. The other farm that had an ab race it didn't work well at all.

https://www.wcvets.co.nz/blog/post/143011/an-ab-techs-wishlist/

 

[RDFF]

Wow, pretty crazy how they're coming after you with regulations there in NZ. If it was me, I'd just put them all in headlocks along the feed bunk, side x side, and preferably, on an angle, so their rear ends would be "staggered" with the one to the right side slightly forward of the one I'm breeding (I'm right handed, so use my left hand for gloved palpation work, and right to guide the dispensing tool). But I sure wouldn't be too picky about that stagger. Long as all the headlocks are filled, they aren't gonna be moving around anywhere.

 

[regolith]

When I moved to this farm a race for AB was on the wishlist... it fell right off the wishlist after a couple of years because I just wasn't drafting for AI any more, it was done during milking. And managing, with a non-ideal set-up, just as easily as on any other farm except for that one with the ab race (that was a dream!). I found an article that claimed a purpose-built race could be done with farmer labour for around $2,000 materials only - that's nonsense! My best guess for getting a local engineer out to install new railings on an existing concrete yard would be in the region of 8 - 10K and I'm quite sure the Te Pari offering will be considerably more than that.
AI techs here are trained on the left regardless of which is their dominant hand. I never really noticed a difference on which side of a herringbone the cow is standing on though, either seems easy enough. Pretty sure the cow's head was on the right side at the yard that had a handling facility.
I remember too. Ever since I started doing my own AI I also did the occasional pregcheck I figured once you knew your way around a uterus if you couldn't figure out whether a cow was preg 4 months plus or not it was your own head that needed examining... when I had the AI race I'd just bring a group of cows in, not necessarily all on heat, and once I'd been doing AI for 6 - 8 weeks if one came in that I knew was supposed to be bred that long I might have a feel. I had no problem at all detecting an 8 week pregnancy on that farm, and could have trained myself pretty good if I'd stayed there longer... when pregchecking means hauling a platform into the pit and trying to dodge getting your arm pushed against the vertical rails coming down from the roof, I rarely bother.

 

[RDFF]

Yeah, I could see the issue with vertical support rails coming down from the roof being in the way, and the potential for getting your arm broke. I assume you'd have a platform that you could hang on the curb to stand on, yeah? Working in dairy parlors is what inspired my homemade design for my working alley. And it works absolutely great! Seldom have a hiccup. Fixed width, but I put 2x high guard rails at the bottom on each side... and we just never have calves turning around in it even. Open sided (16" wide vertically x a long horizontal open space, specifically at the right height to access the rear end of the cow, and I tried to avoid as many verticals as possible and still have enough strength), so we can do most of our work right there in the alley. Only put the critters in the squeeze chute if we need to... like for preg checks mostly. We do alot of embryo work, and we can do the sedars right in the alley too, shots, etc. Implanting embryos we do in the chute. 12 x 24' Bud Box with Medina Hinge on the entrance to the alley. Cut door on each end of the alley (at the entrance, and right before the transition from double to single alley). Holds 3-4 cows in one alley. Medina Hinge can get you two more in the queue. We seldom use the double alley, and if building it again, I wouldn't bother with that second one. It's nice for loading calves into while your working cows through the first one though... the guys up front get to the calves whenever they want, and I can keep working at the back loading. Calves are usually left in the Box after the cows... easy to just put them into the second alley then.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I just put mine in the milking stanchion with a 2x4 behind her. No head gate. I hold the halter rope while the AI guys AI, no problem. My old cow was succesfully AIed while tied to a tree.