automatic milking

[bigbull338]

your looking at going in debt for 1 mill to 1.5 mill.because you have to build the milking palor into a freestall barn.an all cows have to have access to the milking system.you still have to check the system 4 or 5 times a day.an make sure all cows are milked 2x in 24hrs.an you have to cull your herd tightly.because odd shaped bagged cows wont be wilked.an some 3teated cows wont be milked.

 

[Onthebit]

http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/clip4119#clip4119 You can watch it here...quite amazing!

 

[hillsdown]

Pretty fancy ...ff I think I have watched that episode before.
Didn't one robot milker cost around $250 000.00 five years ago ? Maybe the price has come down with all the new technology.

Who wants that, what would you do with all that time on your hands.. :lol2: Hubby liked milking cows the best when we dairied, which was good because I like breeding and feeding calves best. ;-)

But like BB said there is more to it than letting a robot milk your cows..you still need to be hands on with every aspect as the robot is only as good as the dummy maintaining it..

 

[TexasBred]

They also said that the cows eat 100 pounds of food a day and drink a whole bathtub full of water

Depends on what you're feeding them. Not unusual to try to get 55 lbs. or more of pure dry matter into a dairy cow daily. They're being pushed for max. production. 20-30 gallons of water a day is normal as well.

 

[RonE]

Depends on what you're feeding them. Not unusual to try to get 55 lbs. or more of pure dry matter into a dairy cow daily. They're being pushed for max. production. 20-30 gallons of water a day is normal as well.

That depends on the dry matter being fed. A "hot" ration pushes for more production
over the short haul, but this burns a cow out early; a "cool" ration tries for a longer
life-span per cow, the cow doesn't burn out early and is possibly more productive
over the long haul.

 

[Nesikep]

they also said they give 35L of milk a day... I think that's pretty low, isn't it more like 50? our 8 year old guernsey cow usually gave about 20L/day and that was just on grass and hay, nothing more

It's interesting to see that they go and get milked themselves though... but i'd hate to have to troubleshoot the computer code for the teat finder!

what our beef cows wouldn't give to have one of those automated scratchers!!!

 

[RonE]

they also said they give 35L of milk a day... I think that's pretty low, isn't it more like 50? our 8 year old guernsey cow usually gave about 20L/day and that was just on grass and hay, nothing more

35L is about right for a Jersey herd average milk, a herd consisting of Jerseys anywhere from
1 DIM to 800 DIM or more, and either pregnant or open. At any particular point in her lactation
curve a cow could give 50L, but that number is bound to drop over time.

In a typical lactation curve a cow's milk weight rises sharply after freshening for about
2 months, and then gradually decreases over time, with little peaks and valleys
in the down-slope corresponding to 21-day heat cycles. At her "peak milk" a cow could
be giving from 50L up to as much as 70L a day. Most dairies will cull an open cow after she
drops to around 23-25L a day.

 

[dun]

they also said they give 35L of milk a day... I think that's pretty low, isn't it more like 50? our 8 year old guernsey cow usually gave about 20L/day and that was just on grass and hay, nothing more

35L is about right for a Jersey herd average milk, a herd consisting of Jerseys anywhere from
1 DIM to 800 DIM or more, and either pregnant or open. At any particular point in her lactation
curve a cow could give 50L, but that number is bound to drop over time.

In a typical lactation curve a cow's milk weight rises sharply after freshening for about
2 months, and then gradually decreases over time, with little peaks and valleys
in the down-slope corresponding to 21-day heat cycles. At her "peak milk" a cow could
be giving from 50L up to as much as 70L a day. Most dairies will cull an open cow after she
drops to around 23-25L a day.

Do you actaully do the official record keeping in liters? Here we use pounds.

 

[RonE]

Do you actaully do the official record keeping in liters? Here we use pounds.

I had to convert every number from pounds to liters in my reply. I've seen peak milks
up to 150 lbs. We cull at <45 lbs. a day and open. Some farms cull at <50 lbs.

 

[TexasBred]

Depends on what you're feeding them. Not unusual to try to get 55 lbs. or more of pure dry matter into a dairy cow daily. They're being pushed for max. production. 20-30 gallons of water a day is normal as well.

That depends on the dry matter being fed. A "hot" ration pushes for more production
over the short haul, but this burns a cow out early; a "cool" ration tries for a longer
life-span per cow, the cow doesn't burn out early and is possibly more productive
over the long haul.

A properly balanced "hot" ration is not going to burn a cow out (what is burnout??) although thousands are culled every year because of "feed related and management" problems as well as poor environmental conditions. I'd never breed up a herd over a period of years with the potential for milking a 26-28,000 rolling herd average then feed them to produce half that.

 

[TexasBred]

they also said they give 35L of milk a day... I think that's pretty low, isn't it more like 50? our 8 year old guernsey cow usually gave about 20L/day and that was just on grass and hay, nothing more

35L is about right for a Jersey herd average milk, a herd consisting of Jerseys anywhere from
1 DIM to 800 DIM or more, and either pregnant or open. At any particular point in her lactation
curve a cow could give 50L, but that number is bound to drop over time.

In a typical lactation curve a cow's milk weight rises sharply after freshening for about
2 months, and then gradually decreases over time, with little peaks and valleys
in the down-slope corresponding to 21-day heat cycles. At her "peak milk" a cow could
be giving from 50L up to as much as 70L a day. Most dairies will cull an open cow after she
drops to around 23-25L a day.

Where are these jersey located that produce 50 liters per day? I know there may be individuals that can produce that much for a short while but the 35 liters per day sound more likely over a complete lactation and for a typical herd of jerseys cattle. In my area it would be even lower than that. A cow 800 DIM would belong to someone else long ago although I have had a couple of holsteins that milked 540 days and were dried off giving 85 lbs. per day.

 

[bigbull338]

i bought an ugley old big bagged cow years ago that was giving close to 200lbs a day when we bought her.an we dont know how long she had been milking when we bought her.but i know this tobe fact.she would give 5 gal off pf 2 teats.then you put the milker on all 4 teats.milk her another 30 mins an she would give another 5 to 10 gal of milk.an she did that for 18 months.an wouldnt breed back.so we sold her for hamberger.now it took about an 1.5hrs to milk that old gal.an your arm sure got tired holding the milker to let 1 teat milk half way out.

 

[born2run]

Culling at 50 lbs.? Geez! I know of some guys that's there herd average! LOL Current dairy I work for uses 30 lbs. as the cutoff if they're open.

 

[Nesikep]

here's a link, granted, this is a brown swiss record holder, but she had a 1 year average of 140 lb/day, or about 64L/day... not too bad, especially on a 1 year average

http://www.brownswissusa.com/shatzi.asp

I just happened to be looking for brown swiss stuff, and came across it.

Edit, World record, as of whenever this was published, is "Lucy" from Rowan County, North Carolina


‑Rowan County is home to the world record setting cow "Lucy". In 365 days, Lucy produced 75,275 lbs of milk. This is equivalent to 24 gallons (90L) of milk per day for 365 days. That is a world record in milk production. Lucy's record was made in 1998.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/rowan/pubs/dair ... ts2001.htm

Yes, I need 8 calves so I can get rid of all this milk!

 

[funky 4-Her]

your looking at going in debt for 1 mill to 1.5 mill.because you have to build the milking palor into a freestall barn.an all cows have to have access to the milking system.you still have to check the system 4 or 5 times a day.an make sure all cows are milked 2x in 24hrs.an you have to cull your herd tightly.because odd shaped bagged cows wont be wilked.an some 3teated cows wont be milked.

Why wouldnt cows with odd shaped bags or 3 titters be milked? The robot puts on eah teat cup seperately. all you have to do is show it where they are on odd shaped bags, or did i miss something??

 

[Nesikep]

I'd like to know how to milk a cow that produces 90L/day.. I can only imagine how tiring that would be to hand milk, besides the fact you may never actually finish milking

 

[dun]

I'd like to know how to milk a cow that produces 90L/day.. I can only imagine how tiring that would be to hand milk, besides the fact you may never actually finish milking

Other then the Amish, no one hand milks much anymore. Part of ity is the time involved and part is the required sanitation.

 

[Nesikep]

in a dairy I completely justify milking machines.. .. i was just thinking of that cow as a "personal" milk cow like the guernsey we had.. in 3 people we did manage to find a way to use her milk, and there was never a yogurt shortage

People don't like shaking hands with farmers who hand milk... and as far as I care, i've never gotten sick from it, though if you were selling it, admittedly it's gotta be a spotless operation, but it's a lot of work cleaning a milking machine for 1 cow

 

[dun]

in a dairy I completely justify milking machines.. .. i was just thinking of that cow as a "personal" milk cow like the guernsey we had.. in 3 people we did manage to find a way to use her milk, and there was never a yogurt shortage

People don't like shaking hands with farmers who hand milk... and as far as I care, i've never gotten sick from it, though if you were selling it, admittedly it's gotta be a spotless operation, but it's a lot of work cleaning a milking machine for 1 cow

I agree, for the homestead type of cow most of them are overkill. That's what goats were invented for.
Shaking ahnds with someone that hanf milks is nothing like arm wrestling with one. When I was a kid I had a friend name Yony Antonelli. His job before school was to hand milk 5 cows, after school he had to do 10. He weighed about 95 lbs and whipped all comers at arm wrestling, even the kids that outwrigherd him by 100 lbs.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm 140 dripping wet, and I'll take on anyone up to about 180 in an arm wrestle, unless they have the same background I do. strange thing though, I'm southpaw and I do better on my right arm, which is noticeably thinner.. go figure

Goats... not that fond of the milk unless it's completely fresh... 2 teats makes hand milking much quicker, same goes for sheep... I can't remember if I heard this right, but Goats also can't hold their milk back like cows can