The parlor is a critical place on a dairy to have productivity and efficiency dialed in 365 days a year. When it comes to leveling up your parlor output, audits are a helpful tool in finding ways to fine-tune and uncover areas for improvement that drive milk harvest success – ultimately impacting the dairy’s bottom line.
While every parlor audit is unique to the dairy, they often revolve around three core legs of a stool: people, equipment and the cow. All three areas must be addressed or the stool tips over. As our team conducts parlor audits across the country, a handful of key challenges rise to the top. With proactive steps, ongoing support and a growth mindset, these challenges can be addressed to keep the parlor running at ideal output, productivity and efficiency.
People: Procedural drift and rushed milking prep
Consistency is key. Cows thrive when the milking procedure is the same at every milking. Procedural drift – when protocols start to slip – and rushed milking prep can result in delayed milk ejection, particularly bimodal milk letdown. This can be a contributing cause for mastitis and can ultimately mean leaving milk income on the table. Addressing parlor procedures starts by establishing a milking team culture that focuses on the why behind each step, not just the how or action taken in the process. Addressing procedural drift and milking prep missteps starts with the following.
Training and education
Host weekly team check-ins and monthly or quarterly training sessions to reinforce why protocols matter in addition to what to do for the process. Mandatory team meetings ensure every teammate is armed with the same knowledge to create a more consistent cow experience every milking. An example of how focusing on the why can drive parlor culture was a herd that minimized bimodal events from 54% to 25% through targeted team training alone.
Clear and documented parlor procedures
Develop visual step-by-step, bilingual standard operating procedures (SOPs) and revisit them frequently during trainings and check-ins. SOP steps can include both how and why to build a strong process:
- Stimulate the udder well. Like a calf nursing, bumping and massaging the udder cues the cow to release oxytocin to let down her milk.
- Strip each teat for three or four squirts of visual milk. This provides stimulation and the ability to find cows with abnormal milk.
- Wipe teats clean starting with the farthest teat and move in a clockwise order. This allows for the first clean teat to not be contaminated by dirty hands/arms as other teats are wiped.
- From stimulation to attachment should be 90 to 180 seconds. This allows for timing for the entire herd to let down their milk so the clean, well-stimulated teat can be milked as quickly as possible.
Effective onboarding
Ensure new hires receive thorough training on milking routine and cow handling to minimize errors in the parlor. A Click Boarding study showed that a new hire with a structured onboarding experience will be 58% more likely to stay in their role for three years. When it comes to the parlor, a strong onboarding can pay dividends in cow consistency and employee retention; it is time and money well spent. Tap into industry resources and those available through your on-farm partners to create a consistent onboarding program for new employees. Starting on the right foot sets the foundation for their role in the parlor.
Equipment: Wear and tear
In our second leg of the stool, we closely evaluate milking parlor equipment such as vacuums, liners and pulsation. Equipment in the parlor is like a finely tuned race car – it requires continuous maintenance to stay in top form, efficiency and performance to harvest milk. While it may be tempting to stretch equipment life beyond recommendations based on economics, doing so can result in costly downtime, inefficiency in parlor throughput and teat end issues that can increase risk of mastitis. Tackle equipment challenges with the following.
Maintenance plans and schedule
Implement a written, scheduled maintenance plan that includes regular checks on pulsation, vacuum settings, clogged vents and liner changes. Simple daily walk-throughs can reveal potential issues by listening closely during each milking and can be included in the training program.
Partner with experts
Collaborate with your equipment dealer team for timely equipment audits and regularly scheduled maintenance.
Cows: High somatic cell counts
Elevated somatic cell counts (SCC) in the herd are often a result of a spiderweb of factors inside and outside the parlor, including animal exposure to bacteria, stall conditions and equipment setup, and the cow’s nutritional support throughout her lactation. Tackling this challenge requires a multifaceted approach, as there are many connected fibers within the dairy that lead back to her performance in the parlor.
Identify pathogens
When SCC is on the rise, running a culture can help identify the specific bacteria causing SCC issues. When it comes to high somatic cell counts, it’s an all-hands-on-deck scenario. Tap into your partners and team (e.g., nutritionist, equipment dealer, etc.) to work closely with the herd’s veterinarian to help tackle and address the challenge. Pathogen insight can help guide treatment decisions and parlor SOP plans.
Audit stall environment
Mitigating pathogen exposure starts where the cow spends most of her time – in the freestall. Ensure cows have clean, dry stalls with proper spacing to allow for her to lie down without manure landing in bedding. Adjustments to stall width, brisket location or neck rails can also improve cleanliness by keeping stalls hygienic and reducing bacterial risk to open teat ends.
Prioritize immunity-supporting nutrition
Immune health has a direct impact in the parlor throughout her lactation as mastitis and elevated SCC draws nutrients away from her productivity. Ensuring immune health is prioritized will help cows manage inflammatory responses, reducing the risk of mastitis and improving productivity. During an audit, consider the cow’s nutritional support and evaluate the micronutrient profile of her diet. With an efficient and effective response to inflammatory challenges through micronutrient support and proper veterinary care – be it stress, procedure changes, pathogen exposure – she can be more controlled and effective in addressing the challenge to return to baseline productivity.
Review data
You can’t improve or address what you don’t measure. In the parlor, creating benchmarks for people, equipment and the cow helps identify challenges before they become issues. Examples of benchmarks can include bulk tank SCC, individual cow SCC, clinical cases of mastitis, percentage of bimodal milkings, etc. Additionally, good data is key. Lean into the motto, “Garbage in, garbage out.” Ensure accurate data to base sound team decision-making.
Key takeaways
To keep your parlor running at peak performance and avoid these common challenges, it’s essential to take a proactive, comprehensive approach. Conduct annual or as-needed parlor audits with an outside party, prioritize ongoing employee training and review data to pinpoint and resolve parlor challenges before they impact milking productivity. By focusing on people, equipment and cows, dairies can position themselves for success, ensuring each milking is efficient and productive.