The first annual Indiana Dairy Forum, held in historic French Lick on Feb. 1-2, kicked off with an interactive, hands-on presentation to improve parlor function and milk quality featuring a milking system simulation, “Understanding Your Parlor’s Function,” by Dr. Roger Thomson from Battle Creek, Michigan.
Correctly maintained parlor equipment will milk cows gently, quickly and completely. Environmental factors cause 80 percent of the problems with mastitis in our herds, but up to 20 percent of mastitis issues may be caused by inconsistencies in milking equipment function and settings. When asked why he built the simulator, Thomson stated, “I built ‘The Teaching Parlor’ to show you the fundamentals of what your milking parlor can provide to you and to your cows. The automatic milking system really gained popularity during WWI when farm workers became soldiers and there was no one to hand-milk the cows. From that point all the way up to almost 100 years later, we are still trying to figure out how to milk cows comfortably.”
The double-four parlor simulator provides a way to demonstrate how to sustain consistency when moving milk from the cow to the bulk tank. There are controls for changing water flow to allow for fast- or slow-milking cows, adjusting vacuum and pulsation rate, as well as different types of claws and hoses, different inlets, hose configurations and inflation types.
Thomson said there are still challenges with machine-harvested milk, and a built-in conflict between what you want from your parlor and what your cow wants. As dairy producers, we want a lot of milk and we want it fast. Speed and comfort are in conflict with one another. Fast is not comfortable and complete milk-out is often not comfortable. What does the cow want? She wants comfort, not necessarily speed. Thomson stressed the three Cs of milking – comfort, completeness and consistency.
The cow wants comfort; we want completeness and consistency. We also want speed. Thomson stated this is not right or wrong, but it is where we are with today’s milking systems. Major operational factors influencing parlor speed and milk yield are cow handling, udder prep and complete milk-out through unit attachment and alignment. Equipment-related factors that influence peak milk flow are average claw vacuum levels, pulsator settings, milk hose length and dimension, loops in milk hoses and any restrictions in milk flow from the cow to the milk line. Complete milk-out depends upon unit alignment, liner type and condition, cluster weight, take-off settings and bimodal letdowns. The Jenny Lynn milking simulator allows you to test different equipment with different scenarios because it can maintain consistent milk flow, whereas a natural milking event from a cow has variation in the flow rate from the beginning to the end of the milking event.
When discussing parlors, Thomson said they are getting bigger and bigger and faster and faster. We now have rotary parlors with over 100 stalls, but Thomson said he believes the size of the rotary doesn’t matter. The speed it spins determines how long you have to prep the cow. Milkers have just seconds to prep and attach the units.
Thomson stated, “The fastest rotary I have seen to date is four seconds per stall. What quality of teat prep can your milk harvest technicians achieve in four seconds? Can they wipe four teats (sidewalls and ends)? Can they forestrip four teats with three squirts from each teat and identify abnormal milk? We are reaching a point where it is going to require Velcro on the cows’ feet to keep them from spinning off the decks. This is the state of the dairy industry today. Speed and efficiency are not wrong. We have cows producing 150 pounds, three times a day, 50 pounds each milking coming out of four tubes no bigger than the size of pencil lead in an average time of four and a half minutes or less – that is incredible. Ultimately we must never forget that we are harvesting an amazing food product and that the quality it leaves the streak canal must be respected and guarded with our professional lives.”
How do we milk a cow faster? We can raise the claw vacuum, or increase the rate or ratio of pulsators. Neither one of these provides comfort to the cows. How many people want to slow down their parlors on the farm? Maurice Loehmer, forum attendee, commented, “You’ve got to slow down to speed up.”
Multiple studies have proven units should be attached within 60 to 90 seconds of udder stimulation to take advantage of the release of oxytocin for peak milk-out and yield. Loehmer compared a high-performance milking parlor to high-performance stock car racing and said, “It is a common problem where drivers spin out around the corners. You have to slow down to go fast, or you will spin out around the corner, and if you spin out, you are done. That is what we have done in the parlor. Whether it is moving cows or milking cows, we have to slow down to go fast. We have to slow down with cows, get the handling and prep done right, and then we get the speed with fast and complete milk-out.” 
Check out the video below to see more of the milking system simulator.
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Somula Schwoeppe
- Dairy Producer and Freelance Writer
- Huntingburg, Indiana
PHOTO 1: Dan Rauscher compares equipment and considers changes for his parlor at Rauscher Dairy.
PHOTO 2: Dr. Roger Thomson from Battle Creek, Michigan, says he built the simulator to show dairy producers the fundamentals of what a milking parlor can provide to them and to their cows.
PHOTO 3: The double-four parlor simulator provides a way to demonstrate how to sustain consistency when moving milk from the cow to the bulk tank. Photos by Somula Schwoeppe.
