Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle – Part 16: Microcomputers and feeding systems

Good old fashioned milk recording with pen and paper was inexpensive, but it was unreliable and brought about many problems. It also increased the workload when it had to be processed in...

Livestock

3 Oct 2022 · 11 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 14 – Milking machine systems

Milk is a very sensitive product and can get stale and smelly within a very short time. Bad milk will be rejected by the buyer and cause serious financial losses. Milk should be treat...

Livestock

3 Oct 2022 · 8 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 13 – Holding pens

The importance of holding pens at milking parlours is often disregarded. The absence or errors in the form and layout thereof, is the direct cause of poor cow flow at well-designed milki...

Livestock

3 Oct 2022 · 6 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 12 Interior layout of the milking parlour (continued)

The interior design of your dairy can make or break your operation. With some clever thinking beforehand, your dairy will become a place of pride for generations to come. Doors Because...

Livestock

27 Sep 2022 · 7 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 11 – The interior and exterior layout of a milking parlour

To ensure a pleasant milking experience for the cows, farmer, workers and even visitors, it is very wise to have a look at all the factors involved and do some planning before you draw u...

Livestock

27 Sep 2022 · 7 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 10 – Rapid-exit milking parlours and regulations

Rapid-exit parlours are designed to improve the efficiency of fishbone and parallel parlours. All the cows on the one side of the parlour are let out simultaneously in a direction perpen...

Livestock

27 Sep 2022 · 6 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 9 – The benefits and disadvantages of fishbone and rotating parlour structures

Fishbone milking parlour Cows enter these parlours in groups and stand at an angle to the milking pit, so that only the udder part of the cow is exposed to the labourer (Figure 1). ...

Livestock

27 Sep 2022 · 6 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle: Part 9 – The benefits and disadvantages of fishbone and rotating parlour structures

Fishbone milking parlour Cows enter these parlours in groups and stand at an angle to the milking pit, so that only the udder part of the cow is exposed to the labourer (Figure 1). ...

Livestock

31 Aug 2022 · 6 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle – Part 8: Milking parlours and related structures

There is a wide variety of options to choose from when constructing a dairy parlour. These parlours are costly to build; therefore, you will mostly find them on commercial dairy farms. W...

Livestock

23 Jun 2022 · 9 min read

Create the perfect environment for your dairy cattle – Part 7: Planning of a dairy

The planning and construction of a successful dairy require thoughtful actions and the involvement of various knowledgeable people. Many problems and complaints about dairies come about ...

Livestock

23 Jun 2022 · 6 min read