If you want to keep your milking system operating at peak performance, cutting maintenance costs is not the way to go. Regular, scheduled maintenance can prevent emergency repairs and costly parlor downtime.
The best place to start is to work with your milking equipment dealer to make a master schedule of all your milking equipment maintenance needs. Both your dairy and your dealer should have a copy and ensure that both are updated as maintenance is done.
Start with the manufacturer’s recommendations and then adapt that to your operation based on your performance history. This practice will help you ensure that you have a history to help determine what practices help you get the best performance from your dairy.
The biggest thing is: Keep it simple.
In general, silicone milk hoses should be changed once a year and plastic milk hoses twice a year. But if you’re a 24-hour-a-day dairy, you may need to make adjustments.
Things recommended for once a year may need to be done twice a year. It all comes down to hours of run time. Equipment life may need to be based on hours of use rather than days of the calendar when making your schedule.
This can also work in the reverse as some equipment may last longer than manufacturer’s recommendations. For example, smaller operators may not use equipment as much but will have more washes between changes of parts.
They may not get as many hours of operation, and the replacement schedule of parts may be a longer interval.
The most important part is to work with your dairy equipment dealer on a scheduled service calendar for your dairy based on your dairy’s performance.
Make sure the core of the system – your pulsation, vacuum and automatic takeoffs –always get regular checks and maintenance.
Besides having a schedule of when your pulsators, vacuum system and automatic takeoffs are serviced, make sure there is a schedule in place on when vacuum checks are done, pulsators are graphed and takeoffs are evaluated during milking, in between scheduled maintenance. This will ensure you will get optimal milk harvest.
Make sure all gaskets are scheduled to be changed on a regular basis. Have the short air tubes on your milking machines on a change schedule coordinated with the schedule for changing liners. Put milk hoses on a schedule as well as peristaltic tubes on your chemical pumps.
Pipeline gaskets do not need to be changed nearly as often as other parts and can often be forgotten about. In some cases, they may not get changed until a quality problem is being troubleshot. Remember to include pipeline gaskets on the maintenance schedule to prevent failure, even if it is every so many years.
Not just what and when
When making your plan for scheduled service, be sure to include who is to complete the task. Having a checklist of core system components that includes the date maintenance was completed and the initials of the individual who completed it will help to make sure you are getting the most out of your equipment investment.
Depending on your arrangement with your equipment dealer, you may have a scheduled maintenance program where they will track and maintain necessary service updates for your equipment.
Like all maintenance, make sure it is on the schedule so the service technician can check off the task as he completes it, and if you agree to take on part of the job instead, make sure you follow through.
It will vary from dealer to dealer, but a lot of dealerships will also do route service as part of their chemical and supplies program and will have routine route checks. Examples of these are making sure water temp is hot enough, visually making sure equipment is clean and making sure the vacuum level is good and the pump is maintained.
The route specialist then communicates any issues with your service technician. This can be one of the benefits of doing business with one source.
At the end of the day, what you want to avoid are emergency calls. They are expensive and often result in lost time as well as money – time you would rather be spending with your family or other activities. Your cows won’t like it much either if their regular milking time is interrupted due to equipment failure.
The cost of regular maintenance can be budgeted, while emergency repairs come at a premium. After-hours call rates are expensive, as is replacing equipment on the spot. Replacing a vacuum pump can cost thousands of dollars compared to hundreds for timely repairs.
Pay attention every day
A preventative maintenance schedule extends to day-to-day awareness and diligence. Keep the parlor and equipment clean; they will last longer. Rubber should be smooth and not ink off. If you rub against it and the color comes off, there is danger of developing an air leak or milk quality problem.
The same goes for checking for ripped air tubes, holes in liners and making sure the vacuum pump gauge by the receiving jar is where it should be.
These things should be done before each milking to prevent inconvenient breakdowns.
Also, make sure everything is functioning properly when washing starts. Stick around for five minutes and observe equipment. Do a walk-through and make sure there are no leaks and that you have good water flow through all parts.
There are many examples of dairies where a maintenance item was overlooked, like gaskets not being changed on schedule, and bacteria counts went up. A lot of time and extra chemical can be wasted before maintenance is performed that should have already been done. Keeping everything on schedule before failure will lead to shipping the highest-quality milk.
An additional way to monitor equipment function is through your performance data, such as milk flow rate, provided you have meters and by monitoring your quality counts.
Bacteria counts, laboratory pasteurized count and other bacteria counts can identify problems in function and sanitation. It’s also helpful to mark chemical barrels to make sure they are dispensing consistently.
In short, you can schedule equipment maintenance at a time and cost that works for everyone – or you can have an emergency that costs a premium and you never know when it is going to happen.
No matter how tempting it may be to hold back, even when milk prices are low, it pays to protect your investment in equipment with regular, scheduled care and maintenance.
If you do that long enough, you will not only see savings, you will have a recorded history and know what it takes to get the highest quality, production and performance from your dairy. PD
Keith Engel is a dairy farm hygiene and supplies specialist with GEA. Email Keith Engel. or call (630) 640-3665.
PHOTO 1: Work with your dairy equipment dealer on a scheduled service calendar for your dairy based on your dairy’s performance. No matter how tempting it may be to hold back, even when milk prices are low, it pays to protect your investment in equipment with regular, scheduled care and maintenance.
PHOTO 2: When making your plan for scheduled service, be sure to include who is to complete the task. Having a checklist of core system components that includes the date maintenance was completed and the initials of the individual who completed it will help to make sure you are getting the most out of your equipment investment. Photos provided by GEA.
