Milking parlours for large herds in France

A field study was carried out in 52 dairy farms with herds composed of more than 80 cows. These farms were equipped with the following milking parlours: classical herringbone parlour (ECL) double 8/16 units and double 10/20 units herringbone parlours with rapid exit (ESR) from double 6/12 units up to double 12/24 units new parallel parlours (TPA) from double 6/12 units up to double 12/24 units With the same number of units, the average throughput of the three kinds of parlours are almost similar: 68-71 cows per hour in double 8 and 86-87 cows per hour in double 10. This also means that only between 4.2 and 4.5 cows are milked per hour and per unit. ESR and TPA milking parlours are more efficient than ECL systems regarding animal transit through the parlour, and in particular in the exit. In such a case, the milkers might gain from 2 up to 4 seconds per cow which means that the final milking time might be from 3 up to 7 minutes shorter for a 100 cow herd. Unfortunately, this time is lost when milkers wash the ground of the parlours (ESR and TPA) as floor areas of both types are larger than that of ECL. The extra time spent washing ESR and TPA is about 6-8 minutes which entirely makes up for the time gained in a quicker exit. The study shows that many milkers want to reach a high degree of labour productivity instead of respecting the elementary rules of hygiene before milking. Respecting hygiene, the potential throughput of the three previous kinds of parlour, should be. [GRAPHICS] These throughputs may be reached only if there are two milkers in the parlour. However, it is also possible for only one milker to work in those parlours but potential throughput would decrease by about 15%. Finally, economically speaking, ESR and TPA are more expensive than ECL by about 15% and 35%, respectively.