The right people, the right preparation, and the right equipment: Those are the key factors that three dairy farmers highlighted as their keys to milking success during a panel discussion at the National Mastitis Council Annual Meeting.
For Pete Gelber, who runs Highbrighton and Barrington dairies in Georgia, people are the most important factor. In fact, he extolled the values of having additional labor, noting that, when possible, having more people working in the cow pens and in the parlor cuts back on enemies to profit such as poor milk flow, empty spots on the rotary, time spent training new heifers, and changing milk lines.
He explained that on his farms, these tasks are the bottlenecks that sap employees’ time. That’s surely true on other dairies, too. When milkers are stretched thin in the parlor, they rush through their job, leading to udder preparation that is often sub-par. This is a detriment to both animal health and milk quality. “You can’t wipe a cow in three seconds and do a good job,” Gelber stated. When cows aren’t stimulated properly, bimodal milk letdown occurs, reducing productivity. Avoiding these issues with a little extra help can go a long way, he believes.
Employee development isn’t just for the parlor, either. Adam Beard, who manages Heglar Creek Dairy in Idaho, said they see employees as a crucial part of the operations of both of their facilities — one with a parlor and one that milks with automatic milking systems.
“We invest a lot in our employees, especially in onboarding, so everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing,” Beard said. That sentiment builds upon Gelber’s message that extra labor isn’t just valuable for the sake of having another person; they need to be trained effectively. “An extra person without guidance is wasted money,” Gelber added.
For Beard, that commitment to education is part of the culture he has specifically fostered since joining the farm nearly three years ago. “If you don’t establish a culture, it will establish itself,” he cautioned. At their parlor facility, they have a lead milker on each shift as well as a person who serves as parlor manager and takes care of all trainings. Weekly, the crew from the robot facility meets to go over roles and needs.
Patrick Christian, who farms with his parents and brothers at Christian Hill Dairy in Wisconsin, noted that thorough communication with employees is crucial to implementing new procedures or emphasizing the value of current protocols. Explaining why a step matters makes a difference to the team’s learning opportunities. Their farm has a veterinarian come in for regular retraining to provide employees with another perspective on why parlor protocols matter. Dedication from the bottom up makes the business successful, he stated.
The right facilities
No matter how well they are trained, employees require sufficient equipment to do their job well. In parlor set ups, this means keeping systems adjusted, serviced, and ready to work. “If you want to keep cows going through the parlor, you have to have the right equipment,” Christian said.
To add the robot perspective, Beard said that they have been through a learning curve since installing their machines in 2017. Because of cow comfort issues, they were dealing with too many fetch cows and mastitis issues. In general, the stalls were too small for their cows.
Since last year, the farm has transitioned some of their herd from Holsteins to Jerseys. “We’re really happy with how they’ve worked with the robots,” Beard said. The cows fit better in the stalls they already had and are coming to the robots more. This allows employees more time to rake and bed stalls because they aren’t fetching as many animals.
While not every farm can or needs to switch breeds to be successful, animal comfort is no small part of allowing your team to easily and effectively harvest milk. “I don’t think we’ve ever spent money on cow comfort that we regretted,” Gelber summarized.
