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rkm
Well-known member
Milkmaid, I've had cows that gave milk out of six teats. Have you seen that before?
rkm
Well-known member
I can't that they were six seperate quarters but each had their own little milk well, if you know what I mean.
Running Arrow Bill
Well-known member
milkmaid":2fzzbqub said:Beef11":2fzzbqub said:
:lol: Guess not.
Shucks, what would you call them? :???: LOL.
I'll give it a shot!
4 Teats: "Quarters"
5 Teats: "Pentteats" (as in Pentagon)
6 Teats: "Hexteats" (as in Hexagon)
8 Teats: "Octteats" (as in Octagon)
lol...
Bill- LOL. :lol: 
How about a cow that only milks out of three - a trimilker? LOL.
Sarah, are you leaving those 'extras' alone, or putting the milker on them too?
Anyone know if there's ever been a study to show that extra teats are genetic - or not? :???:
How about a cow that only milks out of three - a trimilker? LOL. Sarah, are you leaving those 'extras' alone, or putting the milker on them too?
Anyone know if there's ever been a study to show that extra teats are genetic - or not? :???:
born2run
Well-known member
lol...how about a two quartered cow? What would you call that? This is getting interesting!
Place I work at has a cow with duel quarters...and is a strict "do not put on manual". Only animal that I never question when she leaves draining milk. :roll:
Sarah...you're milking in a parallel right? How long does it take you to run through 300 cows? Do your boss(s) have a special needs barn for sick and fresh cows or are they ran with the main herd?
Place I work at has a cow with duel quarters...and is a strict "do not put on manual". Only animal that I never question when she leaves draining milk. :roll:
Sarah...you're milking in a parallel right? How long does it take you to run through 300 cows? Do your boss(s) have a special needs barn for sick and fresh cows or are they ran with the main herd?
Milkmaid - We don't milk them at all. I'm assuming whatever is in them will dry up. They look like regular extra teats...I was surprised there was anything in them!
born2run - I milk in a double 16 parallel. The vacuum pressure was adjusted a few months ago and now that the crowd gate works better it usually takes between 3 and 3 1/2 hours to milk.
The ones who get anything like penicillin go down to one of the older barns with the dry cows (the milking barn is only 4 or 5 years old) but if the cows are in decent shape and can be treated with Excenel etc.. they try to keep there. Plus most girls who have had surgery for displaced abomasums stay at the milking barn too. We don't have a separate tank or anything for milk with drugs in it.
born2run - I milk in a double 16 parallel. The vacuum pressure was adjusted a few months ago and now that the crowd gate works better it usually takes between 3 and 3 1/2 hours to milk.
The ones who get anything like penicillin go down to one of the older barns with the dry cows (the milking barn is only 4 or 5 years old) but if the cows are in decent shape and can be treated with Excenel etc.. they try to keep there. Plus most girls who have had surgery for displaced abomasums stay at the milking barn too. We don't have a separate tank or anything for milk with drugs in it.
born2run
Well-known member
Sarah...ok. Do ya have any pics you could post? I have a curious mind!
Also...is your boss planning on expanding soon? Just curious why you'd run 300 cows through a double 16? Not very many cows for that many units, aye? What kind of system is it? Cows housed in freestalls or outside?
Takes a pretty sick animal to be moved back to the other barn on my end. Not uncommon for a cow to be treated with Polyflex and still run with the main herd or stay in the sick pen. Cows that are ketotic or run the risk of being caught by the auto scrapers are kept in the sick pen or outside in a small pasture. DA's...pretty well stay in the sick pen for one day and than are back with the main herd. Treatment IMM, just milk into a bucket and toss.
General plans are to build a special needs barn for fresh and sick cows. I'd like that, since the chances of me managing it are quite high. :nod:
Also...is your boss planning on expanding soon? Just curious why you'd run 300 cows through a double 16? Not very many cows for that many units, aye? What kind of system is it? Cows housed in freestalls or outside?
Takes a pretty sick animal to be moved back to the other barn on my end. Not uncommon for a cow to be treated with Polyflex and still run with the main herd or stay in the sick pen. Cows that are ketotic or run the risk of being caught by the auto scrapers are kept in the sick pen or outside in a small pasture. DA's...pretty well stay in the sick pen for one day and than are back with the main herd. Treatment IMM, just milk into a bucket and toss.
General plans are to build a special needs barn for fresh and sick cows. I'd like that, since the chances of me managing it are quite high. :nod:
As far as I know, they don't plan to expand. The barn is only really suitable for 280 or less but many farmers have had trouble making quota over the last year or so so it prompted them to buy about 20 new heifers. We expect to slow down soon enough.
I do have plenty of pictures, haha. I'll only post a few though.
This is the milking parlour. The blue barrels hold clean towels and the smaller ones are for the dirty towels.
These are the freestalls.
This is the sorting gate. (Closed at the moment.)
This is the sick pen. (You can see the crowd gate also raised in the background.)
I do have plenty of pictures, haha. I'll only post a few though.
This is the milking parlour. The blue barrels hold clean towels and the smaller ones are for the dirty towels.
These are the freestalls.
This is the sorting gate. (Closed at the moment.)
This is the sick pen. (You can see the crowd gate also raised in the background.)
born2run
Well-known member
Thanks for the pics! So the sick pen has freestalls? How many cows can it hold?
DeLaval as far as milking equipment, aye?
Here's some pics of my working environment.
Your turn next Milkmaid!
Facing east towards holding pen...btw, DeLaval here also...all-exit herringbone.
West view, parlor...
Holding pen...
An empty pen 2...
Northside, taken from the deck...
DeLaval as far as milking equipment, aye?
Here's some pics of my working environment.
Your turn next Milkmaid!
Facing east towards holding pen...btw, DeLaval here also...all-exit herringbone.
West view, parlor...
Holding pen...
An empty pen 2...
Northside, taken from the deck...
Wow, great pics. It's like a virtual barn tour .
Yeah, we also use Delaval. The sick pen has 6 freestalls and we have room to tie at least 10 (I forget how many exactly). Herringbone would be neat to milk in. I find it hard to reach some of our heifers sometimes, haha. Does it take long for the cows to leave the parlour? I've only seen all-exit on a smaller parlour.
How many do you milk?
.Yeah, we also use Delaval. The sick pen has 6 freestalls and we have room to tie at least 10 (I forget how many exactly). Herringbone would be neat to milk in. I find it hard to reach some of our heifers sometimes, haha. Does it take long for the cows to leave the parlour? I've only seen all-exit on a smaller parlour.
How many do you milk?
born2run
Well-known member
Sarah...
The all-exit bar is nice...takes maybe 30 sec. max for the cows to leave the stanchions. Currently at about 405, will be up to 430 by July. Most I've milked was about 2 years ago, 445. The freestall barn was packed to capacity at that point. Takes a little over 5 hours to milk currently. Working 3rd shift with a partner, we start at 9 PM and get done about 2:15 AM. How many people per shift on your end?
I don't know the first thing about parallels. Do they have an indexing system? One thing I've heard about them is that the milkers get filthy. Correct or hearsay? Herringbones...we stay pretty clean, and the position of the cows allow us to get close without getting kicked. I won't ever complain about the facility I work in...coming from years in a flatbarn this is luxury.
The all-exit bar is nice...takes maybe 30 sec. max for the cows to leave the stanchions. Currently at about 405, will be up to 430 by July. Most I've milked was about 2 years ago, 445. The freestall barn was packed to capacity at that point. Takes a little over 5 hours to milk currently. Working 3rd shift with a partner, we start at 9 PM and get done about 2:15 AM. How many people per shift on your end?
I don't know the first thing about parallels. Do they have an indexing system? One thing I've heard about them is that the milkers get filthy. Correct or hearsay? Herringbones...we stay pretty clean, and the position of the cows allow us to get close without getting kicked. I won't ever complain about the facility I work in...coming from years in a flatbarn this is luxury.
Warning: long post!
Wow, that's a lot of cows to milk! What size is your parlour? Do you use paper towels or cloth? You must keep your dip cups with you too eh? Or do you have spray?
We also have two milkers at a time, but one of us will bring each group of cows up when its time (takes about 20 minutes/group) while the other puts on the first 32 milkers.
Do you do 3rd shift every day? How do weekends work for you guys? I currently do afternoons and nights 5 days every two weeks plus all 3 milkings every second weekend. It makes for a funny schedule but I definitely enjoy all the days off.
Not sure what you mean by indexing system. I will try to explain how our parlour works though. The cows come in straight and there is a gate (springloaded) between each so when each cow comes in they have their own "stall". This can cause problems sometimes - especially with new heifers or cows - because they don't know how to turn in or come in too fast so the gate doesn't have time to open. This is where the cows come in. On the right are the gates I was talking about.
After the cows are done, we either let a few or the whole row go depending if we have a slow one. (We have pneumatic headgates that are divided into sections of 3 or 4. In the picture they are up.) The cows have about a cow-length on the other side so it only takes a few seconds for us to drop the gates back down and start bringing the next row in.
As far as getting dirty, I find the worse part to be when the cows are coming in and suddenly splash us with manure. I know our arms probably do get more dirty though considering we are always touching their legs. I always wear sleeves and it helps a lot!
I noticed the cows had mix in your parlour. How does that work? Do you put it in before you start? We don't have anything like that where I work. It may partially explain why our cows are so stepy. I heard herringbone parlours are better for different udders too. We have a lot that suck air etc.. and we can't do much adjusting.
Wow, that's a lot of cows to milk! What size is your parlour? Do you use paper towels or cloth? You must keep your dip cups with you too eh? Or do you have spray?
We also have two milkers at a time, but one of us will bring each group of cows up when its time (takes about 20 minutes/group) while the other puts on the first 32 milkers.
Do you do 3rd shift every day? How do weekends work for you guys? I currently do afternoons and nights 5 days every two weeks plus all 3 milkings every second weekend. It makes for a funny schedule but I definitely enjoy all the days off.
Not sure what you mean by indexing system. I will try to explain how our parlour works though. The cows come in straight and there is a gate (springloaded) between each so when each cow comes in they have their own "stall". This can cause problems sometimes - especially with new heifers or cows - because they don't know how to turn in or come in too fast so the gate doesn't have time to open. This is where the cows come in. On the right are the gates I was talking about.
After the cows are done, we either let a few or the whole row go depending if we have a slow one. (We have pneumatic headgates that are divided into sections of 3 or 4. In the picture they are up.) The cows have about a cow-length on the other side so it only takes a few seconds for us to drop the gates back down and start bringing the next row in.
As far as getting dirty, I find the worse part to be when the cows are coming in and suddenly splash us with manure. I know our arms probably do get more dirty though considering we are always touching their legs. I always wear sleeves and it helps a lot!
I noticed the cows had mix in your parlour. How does that work? Do you put it in before you start? We don't have anything like that where I work. It may partially explain why our cows are so stepy. I heard herringbone parlours are better for different udders too. We have a lot that suck air etc.. and we can't do much adjusting.
born2run
Well-known member
It's a double 12, expandable to a double 16. Unlike "yours" we can't let a couple go if we have a slow one. This has been the only con I see to a herringbone all-exit.
Nope, we don't feed anything in the parlor, although I know it appears that way. Cows are fed mornings only with a TMR, and feed is pushed back 3 times per shift with a skidsteer.
Towels are cloth. They have a commercial washer and dryer, so we do wash about midway through (200 cows),which generally gets us through until the end.
Schedule, I work only nights, 6 days a week with Saturdays off. Herd manager milks 5 days, but comes in on Saturday. There's a total of 9 employees, and there schedules are a little bit more fluid than mine is. This has to do with senority on my part, nothing more, nothing less. ;-)
As with ya'll...one person is left in the parlor for about 20 min. a shot while I go retrieve the next pen. The day shifts have the advantage of having the herd manager around; I do not. Thus I'll generally send my partner after the first set, than I'll go back after the rest. This is simply a saftey measure...if something is wrong back there I can deal with it instead of my partner having to come and get me. Plus, some people seem to have a forgetful nature :roll: and I don't like to chase cows at midnight. Go figure.
Pre-dip/post dip is done by spray hoses...one hose reaches three cows, so there's 4/side.
We can do a fair amount of adjusting as far as milkers go. Takeoff arm is on three cylinders, and ideally is straight under the cow with the takeoff chain loose. In the instance that one starts sucking air the milker can be raised or adjusted to one side, etc. Also is easy to "machine strip" using the weight of the takeoff arm.
The position of the cow is an advantage when it comes to giving Oxytocin, etc. With the all-exit bar they are restrained pretty good, so we can even drench a ketotic cow with Niacin in there if we need to.
Parlor itself has sprayers along the wall and gutters, although I use them infrequently since it seems to do more harm than good. Holding pen has a flush system, as does the coridoor. I pressure wash the parlor 6 days a week, so what you're seeing in the pics is not me doctoring them on this computer. Since I do this consistently it never looks very dirty.
Think that answers your questions, but I may have missed something. :roll:
Nope, we don't feed anything in the parlor, although I know it appears that way. Cows are fed mornings only with a TMR, and feed is pushed back 3 times per shift with a skidsteer.
Towels are cloth. They have a commercial washer and dryer, so we do wash about midway through (200 cows),which generally gets us through until the end.
Schedule, I work only nights, 6 days a week with Saturdays off. Herd manager milks 5 days, but comes in on Saturday. There's a total of 9 employees, and there schedules are a little bit more fluid than mine is. This has to do with senority on my part, nothing more, nothing less. ;-)
As with ya'll...one person is left in the parlor for about 20 min. a shot while I go retrieve the next pen. The day shifts have the advantage of having the herd manager around; I do not. Thus I'll generally send my partner after the first set, than I'll go back after the rest. This is simply a saftey measure...if something is wrong back there I can deal with it instead of my partner having to come and get me. Plus, some people seem to have a forgetful nature :roll: and I don't like to chase cows at midnight. Go figure.
Pre-dip/post dip is done by spray hoses...one hose reaches three cows, so there's 4/side.
We can do a fair amount of adjusting as far as milkers go. Takeoff arm is on three cylinders, and ideally is straight under the cow with the takeoff chain loose. In the instance that one starts sucking air the milker can be raised or adjusted to one side, etc. Also is easy to "machine strip" using the weight of the takeoff arm.
The position of the cow is an advantage when it comes to giving Oxytocin, etc. With the all-exit bar they are restrained pretty good, so we can even drench a ketotic cow with Niacin in there if we need to.
Parlor itself has sprayers along the wall and gutters, although I use them infrequently since it seems to do more harm than good. Holding pen has a flush system, as does the coridoor. I pressure wash the parlor 6 days a week, so what you're seeing in the pics is not me doctoring them on this computer.
Since I do this consistently it never looks very dirty. Think that answers your questions, but I may have missed something. :roll:
Wow, it sure would be interesting to go and visit different farms. Everybody has a different system. For our feed there is a scraper that is timed to push it back every so often. We do a little by hand but the scraper does the bulk of it. (A little does get wasted at the end.)
How big is your workplace's sickpen? Is that also where cows are bred? (I'm assuming it's all AI.)
We also have trouble sometimes where there is no one around at night. Some days are also hard that way but nights are when we suffer most. If we do have any problems we're supposed to call one of our bosses but sometimes they either don't answer or don't have their phones on :roll:.
How do you like the spray hoses? Have you ever used dip cups? I heard that it's hard to cover the whole teat...or do you just do the ends? Also, milkers tend to injest the dip a little and it can cause problems down the line.
I imagine it must be easier for oxytocin etc.. Do you have some that you do every milking? We have about 7 or 8; some heifers and some cows.
As far as our wash routine, we pretty well clean up piles here and there in the parlour throughout the milking. Afterwards, one of us scrapes (not me anymore!) all the manure down to the drains and the other uses, well, firehoses, to wash the parlour area down (including where we work). We do this after every milking.
Hmm, just one more question for you. Are those drains where the cows' back feet are? That would make things less messy! Do you have a "gutter" behind them? (You can see ours in the picture.)
How big is your workplace's sickpen? Is that also where cows are bred? (I'm assuming it's all AI.)
We also have trouble sometimes where there is no one around at night. Some days are also hard that way but nights are when we suffer most. If we do have any problems we're supposed to call one of our bosses but sometimes they either don't answer or don't have their phones on :roll:.
How do you like the spray hoses? Have you ever used dip cups? I heard that it's hard to cover the whole teat...or do you just do the ends? Also, milkers tend to injest the dip a little and it can cause problems down the line.
I imagine it must be easier for oxytocin etc.. Do you have some that you do every milking? We have about 7 or 8; some heifers and some cows.
As far as our wash routine, we pretty well clean up piles here and there in the parlour throughout the milking. Afterwards, one of us scrapes (not me anymore!) all the manure down to the drains and the other uses, well, firehoses, to wash the parlour area down (including where we work). We do this after every milking.
Hmm, just one more question for you. Are those drains where the cows' back feet are? That would make things less messy! Do you have a "gutter" behind them? (You can see ours in the picture.)
