Parlor performance basics

Abstract

Several factors, including the number of milkers and desired milk quality, interact to determine parlor efficiency. One of the most important efficiency factors is maximizing total pounds of milk produced. The best method to evaluate this is to calculate milk production based as a per stall, per hour of operation number. This number can be calculated in any parlor or stall barn system, whether or not meters or milk-monitoring devices are installed. The information needed is the time in hours and tenths of an hour, the total amount of milk produced during the milking, and the number of units. The calculation is made by dividing the total milk produced by the number of milking units, and the resulting milk weight is then divided by the total time. On many dairies, total cows milked per day or per hour is commonly used as a proxy for pounds of milk output, but too often is used as the only measure. When cows are not prepped properly, throughput can increase even though less milk is produced! This is not the desired goal for any herd.