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HERRINGBONE DAIRIES
Introduction
Dairy Tech herringbone
dairies are designed to incorporate:
The herringbone dairy
is a legacy system that’s been popular for several decades because
its walk-through pit enables milking operators to put cups on teats
without having to stoop. It’s also a cost-efficient construction
option.
Dairy Tech has been
able to improve the traditional design without losing those
efficiencies - although for larger herds the rotary design from
Dairy Tech can offer even more economies of time and resource
management.
Quicker construction
Dairy Tech’s design
and construction of herringbone dairies simplifies the structure to
enable quicker construction using a galvanized steel ‘portal frame’
system with long-run roofing and precast panels for the pit area and
dairy rooms.
Design-to-fit
Dairy design can
accommodate any width of cup centres (distance between milk lines)
and will design the dairy layout to fit an existing or newly
installed dairy plant configuration.
The herringbone design
by Dairy Tech is to enable cow flow where the cow can move easily
and cup centres allow adequate room for dairy staff and cows. One
example is for a slight rise uphill so cows will move easier into
bails.
Cow behaviour
The design takes into
account cow behaviour, such as their reluctance to walk up to a wall
or downhill into a confined area as in a bail. Line of sight is also
important for a cow and it prefers to see an open area ahead rather
than a wall as in old-style dairies where cows exit to the side.
In Dairy Tech
herringbones the cows walk straight in from the yard and directly
out through an open end to the dairy – design elements that maximize
cow flow.
Time-saving
Dairy Tech has built
herringbones from 12-aside to 48-aside – the size largely determined
by cow numbers. An optimum number of bails allows for 10 rows of
cows per milking to enable each milking and clean-up being completed
within two hours.
This calculation is
based on 10 minutes per milking row in the flush, which is 100
minutes per milking (1 hour and 40 minutes) plus 20 minutes
cleaning. The most efficient rotation speed on a rotary allows five
to seven minutes per milking but the rotary offers the advantage of
sending slow-milking cows around a second time with cups on.
Another accepted
standard is one operator per 24 clusters of cups (24-aside) so the
design of a herringbone has also to consider the number of operators
as well as an optimal milking time.
Top-floor
The top-floor is
sloped outwards from the pit to allow easier cleaning away from the
operator and towards one end. The concrete floor is 100mm thick,
30MPA (strength standard) and broom-finished for a non-slip surface.
Rails
The zig-zag ‘bum’ rail
is shaped in Dairy Tech’s engineering workshop, welded on site and
installed by a Dairy Tech site construction team. A breast rail is
adjustable on swivel stands to allow for cow length variation. All
pipe-work is galvanised steel.
Access
For the operators the
pit has steps at the exit end and a slope with non-slip finish at
the entry end. Cow flow is directly from the yard and in a straight
line of sight to the bail area (on slight rise). The exit of cows is
through butterfly gates into a drafting area and then an exit race.
Butterfly gates
A dairy tech designed
set of butterfly gates is at the exit end of the bail area and will
fold out of the way so that the exit race is totally unimpeded. See
Gates.
Cow positioning
The farm owner can
state preference for how tight or open is the space of cows with
cups on. Dairy Tech recommends 660mm cup centres for ease of cupping
between the cows’ legs and economies of scale for the dairy.
Safety
The design allows for
inclusion of a kick rail below the bum rail as an option that is
usually requested.
Options
A teat spray system
can be included at the exit.
UPGRADES - Herringbone
Herringbone dairies can be extended by adding
more cup centres.
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