3X milking, anyone?

[gone-a-milkin]

Alright, the farm I work on, we just started the new schedule. 5am, 1pm, 9pm. It has been a week and the cows are up ave. of 5# each per day. Before this started they were falling off. Now, there are other variables...feed changes and cooler weather mainly. It is sort of an experiment for us. Plus, a number of the ladies will be coming fresh the next few weeks.

I guess I am just wondering if anybody does this? The SCC has really dropped, almost instantly, which is excellent. Otherwise, is it crazy? My dh sure thinks so when I get home so late! Luckily its CLOSE, 2 1/2 miles away.

I have heard people say it was "bad" for the cows, but I honestly am not seeing that it is. It's extra WORK for the milkers...

Thoughts, views, experiences? This is a SMALL place, not a Factory Farm.

[Highland]

Great for the cows but rough on the folks milking them! I thought about milking 3 times a day once-- but that's as far as it got-- a thought!LOL

[Up North]

The interval between replacing milker inflations and short air hoses should be shortened from the previous maintanence schedule.
For cows 300 DIM or less, feed requirements will increase.

Worker fatigue due to working odd or late hours *may* increase the risk of an antibiotic contamination and the subsequent financial reversals that accompany such an event.

That said, it is probably better for the cows - if- they are not standing on concrete too many hours of the day to make 3X milking work.

[Ronney]

I have heard about this but haven't done any research into it as it is something I wouldn't even begin to contemplate as I suspect that in the longer term the costs will outweigh any benefit.

Cows standing around waiting to be milked are not eating - if they are there will be increased feed costs.

Increased running costs - as Up North has already mentioned, a shorter life for rubberware, plus increased electricity costs for running plant, high pressure hoses, lighting etc.

Increased staffing costs as well as a probable eventual dissatisfaction with long days and a resulting high turnover of staff.

Oddly, I'm seriously contemplating going the other way and dropping back to once a day after the cows have passed their peak production. This has come about by accident when due to flooding I was unable to milk my cows and they missed two milkings. Their production dropped away so badly it wasn't worth milking them twice a day so I just did a morning milking. Their production has climbed back up to what I would have been getting from them twice a day and the benefits are all mine. The afternoons are free, the electricity bill has dropped and the cows are in better condition than they would have been had I still been milking twice a day.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[JeffNY]

I know of a large farm, milking over 600, they do 4X. Their production went up.. I thought about 3X with my small dairy, thought about it to pick up production and see if I can edge off the SCC numbers more. Currently this month's average is 55,000. My yearly average is 84,000. Low cow is 12,000, high cow is about 200, and that is one Jersey. She hs always been at that number, but with the overall average low, id suspect she has come down.


A lot of the SCC has to do with the way you milk, where they are housed, how clean they are, and sometimes its simply the individual. With us, each animal is cleaned, this means sprayed off. Each udder is as clean as it would be on show day. They are washed, udder wash, stripped, pre-dip, wiped, then the milkers go on. When I finish off a cow, I put some down pressure on the udder, after the milk has stopped flowing. This gets the last little drop out, and keeps things healthy.


Some on here feel that a higher SCC is better, as it helps against bacteria. That is a load of manure. A lower SCC means that animal has a healthy udder. Since SCC is a measure to the level of White blood cells, a higher count means that animal has some sort of infection. The higher the number, the chance of her having mastitis is greater.


Jeff

[Up North]

Ronney- Am not a bit surprised that milking 1X is working for you.
Some of the totally seasonal milking herds are milked 3X for the first 140 days in milk, then drop to 2X until 275 DIM, then drop to 1X for the last tailend portion of lactation, at which time 100% of cows are dried off and owners go on holiday.

An interesting sidenote is that one of the reasons the new Robotic milkers work is because a cow can choose to be milked as frequently as 5 times a day when just fresh and then taper off to 1X as it nears the end of it's lactation. This is easier on the cow and results in generally lower somatic cell counts if the whole farm system is managed "just right".
Falls into the easier said than done on that last bit of course.

3X milking is done quite heavily in the North American Confinement Holstien herds where cows are fed and managed to produce in the 75 to 82 pounds milk per cow per day herd average day in and day out. It takes a sustained high milk tank average like this to pay the extra running costs you have mentioned and still generate an increased profit over 2X.

On our small farm Heather & I do 100% of work, so to retain civility between spouses and have a moment for a good coffe and to sit and watch the piglets bounce about we stay at the 2X milking schedule, LOL.

Cheers, Ronnie

[JeffNY]

It isn't simply confinement dairy herds that use 3X milking, some smaller farms do use this, and one I was told of by a vet we used to use milked 4X. Now that one large 600+ cow operation milks 4X, for reasons unknown. But the reason why this small farmer milked 4X, is because he didn't like the pressure on the cows udder at 2x, then at 3x he still didn't like it. So he adopted 4X, which suited him. While this is every 6 hours, it could work if you loved being in the barn. Figure on a 12am, 6am, 12pm, 6pm milking time. Technically it could be done with a small herd, if your setup was ideal. The biggest pain for me, if I adopted 3x, would be washing the milk line that one extra time. I have done this for classification. You take the milkers all down, and do a rinse, it is a pain. But there is no other choice, other than leaving the milk in the lines from those that weren't being classified 2-3 hours prior.


When we dry off, we milk 1x for the first week, then once every other day for the 2nd week. Then we dry treat, and they seem to all do well. That 1x brings them down by half, then the once a day brings them down by half again. Funny thing, even if you have them on 1x, you can bring them back some on 2x. Did this with one of the cows, she had a hematoma from either being banged, or some other reason. So she couldn't be dried off. Brought her back to 2x, came back up in production, to what she was just prior to 1x.

All operations are different, and the cost of 3x really comes down to your situation. Since many have mexicans, or some other hired help that milks, nothing else. They can do 3x. I have heard of problems, but I have also heard those mexicans are very good at keeping track who has mastitis, or who is treated.

Problem with robotic milkers, is the fact that some cows do not go through it enough, or some still have to be rounded up. They might take away from finding a hired hand. But I think, the more I hear about some of the issues with them, id rather find a mexican, or some migrant worker. There are good ones, and you get what you pay for.


Jeff

[dosthouhavemilk]

Dad has milked every ten hours during the Spring and Summer in the past and there were a lot of benefits for the cows and the tank...Not so much for dad...lol
It's a nice medium between milking 3X a day and 2X a day and a little more bearable, *if* you don't mind odd milking times.

Our cows have never had issues with odd milking hours, but they are used to it.

[francismilker]

I milked 3X per day on the 70 cow holstein dairy I worked on as a kid. The owner noticed increased production and lower SCC count as well. It was harder on a small business man as labor costs increased. He said it was still worth it on the bottom line. He did consequently file bankruptcy two years after I moved on!

[gone-a-milkin]

I am wondering about the bottom line too. The butterfat and other solids...cost for electric, rubberware, teatwash, sanitizer, etc. and since I don't see those numbers, I may never know!

People are making bets as to how long it will last. My personal issue is a little thing called WINTER! Otherwise, if we can do it til all the fresh cows come on and a few weeks more...it would be beneficial to the cows.

[DaleK]

There were a lot of people trying 3x here about 10 years ago. THere were a lot of benefits then but as hydro prices went up, the benefits didn't keep pace with the costs. Can't think of anybody milking 3x at all now.