Cheaper than a rotary, works for high - producing cows

The P2100 milking parlour, commissioned last December, is making a substantial difference on the 134ha farm owned by Paddy Lockett, where 50/50 sharemilkers Derek and Catherine Hayward milk 320 cows. They have milked there for eight seasons.

Hayward says getting rid of a 36-a-side herringbone for the 18-a-side parlour with the latest technology was a sound business decision by the farm owner.

He says milking is now handled by one person, allowing the other staff to do other farm jobs and making the business more efficient; cows are more comfortable in the spacious parlour where they are fed individually. Milking is done year-round and three calvings are planned this season. 

Hayward says milking time has dropped though this was never the main reason for switching to P2100. Keeping labour cost down was the main driver.

The herringbone shed was only 13 years old but needed two milkers year-round.

“When we started getting our cow numbers down, milking around 250 cows, it did not justify the expense of a relief miker,” Hayward told Dairy News. “However, with a 36-a-side herringbone you need two people for milking; the idea was to put technology in the shed that allowed 350 cows to be milked by one person.”

 Hayward mentioned the parallel milking parlour to Lockett, and asked three companies for quotes. 

“Two were not interested but DeLaval told us they were looking for somewhere to introduce the P2100,” he says. “All stars were aligned; DeLaval was ready to launch the product here, and we were looking for something like that.”

Their P2100 comes with automatic cup removers, auto draft and auto wash features; new technology can be added to the parlour.

Hayward says the P2100 enables high throughput with fast milking and quick changes from one group to the next – exactly what is needed for a profitable milking system. 

Cow comfort and worker safety are important factors for Hayward, and the P2100 is designed for both: cows have easy entry to the milking place and a comfortable, natural position during milking.

Cows are fed while milked; after milking the front gate goes out and 10 seconds later the deck is watered, the flush lasting 10 seconds.

Hayward says by this time every cow has moved off the platform, then the front gates come down.

“And because she can’t turn till she gets to the front because of the sequence gates, she walks out without any problem and the next mob moves in.”

Hayward says he finds the P2100 environment much safer and enjoyable.

“Nobody who walks into the pit says they don’t like it. Everyone who walks in loves it; there’s so much room in there. It creates an environment where people actually want to go to milk.”

The cows also look happier in the parlour. “We have a mixed herd with various sizes of cows; every cow that comes in is settled.”

Milking has also improved; the automatic cups don’t come off until the cow is properly milked.

Young cows get the same feed because they are not pushed around during feeding. During milking the cows get two feeds, including the high-cost Challenge feed, which goes to high producing cows.

Professional Farm Services installed the parlour.

Physically installing the equipment was a challenge on the year-round milking farm. Contractors first dismantled the roof and removed one side of the old herringbone parlour – a serious disruption. With the 36-a-side reduced by half, milking took six-eight hours.

 “One morning the cows were milked while concrete cutters were working; it wasn’t ideal but we managed.”

Once the P2100 was completed, Hayward found milking times much shorter than with the 36-a-side herringbone. “The cows were wasting less time coming and going from the parlour.”

Long-term investment will pay off

The decision to install the P2100 was made in 2014-15, a high payout year.

However, farm owner Paddy Lockett and sharemilker Derek Hayward say the long term investment will pay off.

The plant was cheaper than a rotary and is getting more milk from the high performing cows, Lockett says. “This would be a waste of time for poor producing cows; our cows are top producers.”

Hayward acknowledges the low payout is a worry. But he says any farmer building a new dairy would not be expecting to pay for it within a season.

“We know the nature of the beast is that the payout will drop and the payout will come back, so essentially we are looking for this investment to pay over a number of years. Sure, we have the outlay now and the payout’s down, but when is the right time?”