Types of Milking Parlors for a Dairy Farm & Do’s and Don’ts of Milking Parlor
There are varieties of milking parlors where the desired milking routine is the amount of time required to perform the pre- milking work routine on each cow which in turn determines the number of milking units and the milking stalls which is operated by each operator and used by operator effectively. The swing over milking Parlour whose size is too big encourages the operators to take short cuts and thus they do not implement the complete milking routine. The small parlor will result in bored workers. There are some parlors which are more suited for providing individual cow care than others. The various types of milking parlors used today are Side Opener parlors, Fishbone (Herringbone Parlor) Parlor, Parallel (Side by side Parlor). Swing over Parlor, Rotary Parlor and many more. All the parlors have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of Rotary parlor is that the movement of cows is largely automated thus making operators free and it requires 3 operators where one is required for unit attachment, other operator is required for detachment of units or for post milking teat dip and third operator is needed for solution if any problem occurred while cows are travelling around. These types of parlors are non- expandable. For the moving parlors the capital cost per stall is usually higher per stall as compared to non-moving parlors. Here the work is highly regimented and uniform, which is one of the greatest advantages of rotator parlor. On a rotary platform, it is difficult to provide any special cow care than a stationary parlor.