Milking Facilities

What size milking parlour should I build?

For moderate sized herds the recommendation is to have 6-7 rows of cows. This will allow the herd to be milked in about one hour. Example:  70 cows - 10 unit parlours, 100 cows - 14/16 unit parlours.

How much could a milking parlour cost?

The basic machine will cost about €2,000 per milking unit; including all of the extras will push the cost per unit up to €8,000. In addition the cost for the building, dairy, collecting yard with tank is about €4,000 per unit. Second hand machines can be good value, but take into account the cost of installing them.

How much will bulk tanks cost?

A new tank will cost between €1.75 – 2.50 per litre capacity.

Where the milking parlour should be sited?

Ideally the parlour should be sited in the middle of the grazing area. Cows will be walking to and from the grazing area about 1,000 times in the year.

What size bulk tank do I need?

The size of the tank will depend on peak number of cows to be milked, their yield and the number of collections per week by the co-op. Some co-ops are moving to three day collections so the bulk tank should have enough capacity for 3.5 milking's. For example, 100 cows x 28 litres/day x 3.5 milking's = 9,800 litres bulk tank required.

What are the basics and extras in a milking machine?

A basic milking machine will contain a vacuum pump, milk line, vacuum line and wash line and a milk receiver jar with a milk pump. There are many extras and automations that can be added. These include cluster removers, milk metres, auto gates, dump line, auto feeders, auto drafting, cluster flush and many more.