What happens on our farm in a 24 hour period? That was my question.
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| This is a view I enjoy on my walk out to the sand pit. |
So, I randomly picked 2/13/2012 as the day and started collecting data.
We milked our 700+ cows three times a day which took 23 hours. Over the course of 24 hours, eight people milked and scraped a cumulative 75.5 hours. I was unable to divide the milking time from the scraping.
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| Shavings |
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| These are free stalls - this BEB (brown eyed bossie) likes to be different and lay in the stall backwards. |
The scrapers scraped the alleys with skid loaders. They also walked the alley ways and raked each free stall by hand. A free stall is an individual stall that the cows lay in. We have a rubber mattress with a thin layer of shavings on top in each stall for the cow’s comfort. Daily the stalls are raked to remove and manure and redistribute the shavings.
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| 12 BEBs are milked at a time on each side. |
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| Three BEBs leaving the parlor and heading back to have lunch. |
The 700 milking cows enter the parlor (the room where we milk) and choose which side they want to be milked. We have a double 12 herringbone parlor. We milk twelve at a time on each side. Quite frequently the cows will find themselves in the same number position for each milking. They are creatures of habit. The milkers pre-dip each teat with sanitizing solution and then wait 45 seconds to kill any bacteria. Next, the teats are wiped dry which also provides stimulation to the udder to promote milk let down. Then the milking machine is attached and the cow is milked out. After the machine has been removed the teats are dipped again with a solution to prevent bacteria from entering the udder while the cow is eating and sleeping until the next milking time.
We have about 500 microfiber towels that are continually being washed, dried and used.
We have a segregated pen for cows whose milk cannot be sold and a totally separate milking parlor for milking them. These cows are milked three times a day also. Their milk is dumped down the drain because they are fresh or on medication. On the 13th we milked 15 in this pen three times, which added 4.5 hours of milking. That brings the total milking/scraping man hours up to 80.
When medications are given there is a waiting period stated by the drug companies. They determine how many days it takes before the medicine is out of the cows system and that the milk is free of antibiotics. Our herdsman has increased the number of days for some of the medications to insure the milk is drug free. When they are drug free they are put back into their original group and milked in the regular parlor.
When our milk is picked up to be taken to the dairy we have a sample taken. That sample is checked at the dairy before our milk is unloaded and mixed with their supply. If drugs were found, our milk would be dumped.
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| Where our minerals and other supplements are stored. |
One person spent 10.25 hours feeding the cows. The cows are fed a TMR – total mixed ration. We have five groups that have their own special “recipe”. Our stored feed is tested weekly for value and then the nutritionist help determine what needs to be added such as minerals or protein.
One person spent 11 hours hauling manure. We spread our manure on our fields. It’s a great fertilizer. We also, test the soil to make sure we aren’t over saturating the field.
Two hours were spent taking one cow to the slaughter house.
It took 2.25 hours to pump the milk from our bulk tanks to the empty tanker that is backed up to our dairy. Our bulk tanks hold 6,000 pounds. There are five people who are certified to pump the milk. There are very strict regulations that must be followed.
Approximately 20 man hours were spent repairing and maintaining “stuff” on the farm that day.
10.5 hours were spent feeding and caring for calves. There were 4 calves born on the 13th, two heifers (girls) and two bulls (boys).
We average 3 – 4 calves born a day.
18.5 hours were dedicated to veterinary issues, breeding and record keeping. Our herdsman did pregnancy checks on 40 cows that day. On 2/13/2012 there were 587 pregnant cows on the farm. 72 of those were dry – meaning they are no longer milked. Once the cows reach 225 – 232 days pregnant they are dried off. About 60 days later the cow will freshen (have a calf).
Once a cow has her calf we have a scheduled program of care for her (the cow). Between 13 – 16 days DIM (days in milk) they are vaccinated against e-coli mastitis and meds are given to help clean out her uterus.
Then 27 – 33 DIM another round is given.
At 41 – 47 days DIM meds are given to continue to ensure a healthy uterus.
55 – 61 days DIM is the last check and then at her next heat she is bred again.
On the 13th three cows were bred.
I spent about four hours in the office entering bills, paying bills, working on schedules and other record keeping.
59,612 pounds of milk were shipped that day. That equals 6,931.63 gallons of milk.
All that work was accomplished in 24 hours using approximately 141.5 man hours.
So, how did your day go?
