A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 15, 1990
Milking Parlor
(Continued from Pag* A 29)
is a wider lane at the end of the
return exit.
They use a dual vaccum system;
one for milking, one for washing.
A transfer tank is employed with a
pre-cooling plate. The transfer
tank also serves as a washing tank.
With 600 gallons of washwater
in the system, delivered at 45 gal
lons a minutes, the worker has 12
minutes to use it to hose down the
parlor and holding area.
Representatives from parlor
building companies gave
presentations like commercial
breaks between talks by dairy
academians.
In the afternoon, Larry Jones,
from Cornell University, dis
cussed the need for installing a par
lor with computerization and
instrumentation to weigh milk.
He said that the use of any infor
mation gathering device has to be
valued. The way it is valued it to
determine how the information is
used to make better management
decisions and the profits realized
from those decisions.
The value of an item is equal to
the ratio of the profits realized by a
decision to the cost of obtaining
that information. If it breaks even,
he said it doesn’t make much sense
to get the information. He said the
ratio should be at least two to one.
Jones also warned of managing
too much on a day-to-day basis and
missing the “big picture.”
He said that it is better to man
age on a preventative basis to
work with items like days open and
lactation lengths on a herd basis.
And in his opinion, continuing to
use DHIA is die only way to get the
information necessary.
There are programs in develop
ment now, such as DHIAs LERP
(Labor Efficient Records Prog
ram) which is being used on five
farm in Pennsylvania and on six
farms in New York.
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He said the LERP program inte
grates some of the information col
lecting and processing abilities on
the farms with DHIA. It depends
on two tests a year on the farm.
Whether those two milk tests are
enough for a dairy manager, each
individual will have to decide.
He said that many of the elec
tronic programs available to dairy
men are not standardized, not com
patible to DHIA, require the dairy
man to have the time, finances,
typing skills use them and do not
guarantee that the information
gathered is going to be interpreted
accurately or used well.
He said that because of the lack
of some standardization with prog
rams, the situation now is “caveat
emptor,” or “let the buyer beware.”
However, the price of computer
equipment is coming down and the
abilities are increasing. He said
that, for roughly $4,000, a person
could buy a system to run informa
tion program for his own farm, his
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neighbor’s farm and still “have
enough left over so the kids could
play computer games.”
According to Jones, DHIA
should still be used even when a
computerized system is in place or
the farm. He provided several
anecdotes of how some people fell
into problems when dropping from
DHIA testing as a management
tool.
Several dairymen said they
enjoyed the seminar, especially the
mix of commercial representation
with purely educational
presentation.
According to Glenn Shirk, Lan
caster County extension dairy
agent, the mixed seminars will
continue to be used. They are seen
as a way of providing those who
attend the seminars a look at a wide
variety of choices, the make con
tacts and to gather information on
what is really available before
deciding whether or not to commit
to a change in program.
Jeff and Sue Wemer, Lebanon,
attended the meeting. Though they
farm a stanchion operation, they
said they wanted to see what was
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new in dairy equipment.
“What I liked most was in the
begining, they had some basic
facts, such as how much a parlor
would cost, what the level of cows
would be needed to sustain a sys
tem,” Jeff said.
Of the commercial offerings.
Sue said, “I think it would be hard
to determine which company to go
with.”
Jeff added, “But I like it set up
that way. It breaks it up. You’re
better able to concentrate.”
Steve Mason, of Nottingham,
Chester County, is in a family part
nership which milks ISO registered
Holsteins out of a double-eight
herringbone parlor and till 600
acres.
Mason said he was attending the
seminar because he’s been looking
at ways to- make the operation
more efficient
As it is now, Mason said their it
takes five hours a day to milk the
herd twice with two people milk
ing at a time.
The farm has had a parlor for
more than 30 years. It was one of
the first free-stall farms in the area,
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he said.
What he looking to eliminate is
more labor on the farm and possib
ly go to a one-man milking system.
Of the number of people who
attended the seminar, Mason said,
“I think people were surprised at
the number of people and maybe
asking themselves, ‘Why, with a
depressed economy, this many
people would be willing to spend
money?’
“It’s because of efficiency,”
Mason said. “In tight times, you
can’t stop (getting more cost
effective), you have to go ahead
cautiously.”
As to what Larry Jones and
others discussed about the need for
DHIA, Mason said his brother
Alan has a computer he works
with.
“We’re on DHIA, but basically
we’re in our infancy of utilizing
the records. I wanted to ask that
question and I think it was
answered nicely,” he said. “It’s
kind of like a tractor, information
is a tool. You have to analyze. You
have to determine if it’s going to
make you money.”
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