Tumble Tye Farm
Tumble Tye Farm
Farm location
Folkestone UKHerd size
230"It is a very efficient system and the cows settled into the new parlour very easily. The cows do not have to lift their heads above a bar or into a frame which makes loading much faster,”
William Warnock installed a DeLaval P2100 rapid exit parlour with Evanza clusters, automatic weighing scales and a body conditioning camera in December 2020. This has halved the time it takes to milk the herd, improved cow health, and offered the farm the opportunity to focus on making more milk from forage.
Time saving was a big factor in replacing the parlour, but Mr Warnock was not willing to move towards robots, preferring to have a hands-on approach to milking. “I could see the advantages of robots, but I must be a traditionalist because I like to see the cows and work with them, so robots were not an option for me,” he explains. He favoured a herringbone parlour but having seen examples on other farms he and his brother agreed that the rapid exit option offered more benefits. “The flow of cows through the parlour and the drafting system of the rapid exit made more sense. Also, milking 40 cows at a time offered us the opportunity to reduce milking times significantly,” he adds.
The parlour has a wide collecting yard and efficient drafting which leads to five sections of four to index the cows. The cows stand at 90 degrees and the sides lower and lift on a button. “It is a very efficient system and the cows settled into the new parlour very easily. The cows do not have to lift their heads above a bar or into a frame which makes loading much faster,” he says. The indexing of the parlour pushes the cows towards the milker in the pit after they have entered the milking point. “I like that the milking position is close to me because it makes it easier to reach and I also get a better view of the udders,” he adds.
- DeLaval Body Condition Score Camera
“It is an excellent piece of technology that has saved us time and provided far greater insight and data than we could expect by scoring the herd manually. As the cows exit the parlour they walk in single file past the camera and on to a weigh scale. It has taken a little while to calibrate but, now that the data is all recorded, we can flag up any problems straight away. In the future we will have more data on each cow to help us make decisions"
- DeLaval Evanza Milking Clusters
“These clusters are a big improvement. Much easier to attach, faster milk draw and the cows are much more comfortable. We hardly ever get a kick-off and the cows stand at ease, The Evanza cluster features new technology that increases flow and also reduces the frequency cartridges need to be changed. We only have to change the cartridge every 5,000 milkings. Our old ones would only last half that time. The liners just pop out and can be replaced much faster which will also be a help in the future”