|
Manitoba | can't comment on the germania you mentioned but think the style of parlor depends a lot on how many you are milking and how many guys you want to have in the pit. You have to be pushing a lot of cows through before it makes any sense putting more than one guy in the pit and you need a lot of parlor to justify having him there. personally I would go with a swing parlor up to about 500 cows with one milker (10 - 14 a side). Throughput in a well designed swing with one milker is almost the same as a parlor with units on both sides with one milker. I can't justify the extra expense of having the milking units just hanging there doing nothing. A well designed swing (depending on prep routine) of the size mentioned with one milker should consistently be able to put 70-80 cows an hour through.
Unless you are absolutely determined to go herringbone I would go parabone (different terms for it but basically a parrallel that is at a bit of an angle so cows load easy. Takes up way less space and the milkers don't have to walk nearly as much. Safer for the milkers (especially good setup for new heifers who don't quite agree with the concept of getting milked)
Equip it with good used equip and you have a really low cost parlor that is going to do the same job as a high priced new one. I know there is lots of different ways to make a dairy work but from here the swing parlor route is an easy choice that is working well. If you absolutely want to go the route of a used big name parlor try calling the various dairy equip dealers in the other provinces around you. Lots of used equip and parlors around and not all of it is advertised. | |
|
parlor
