The Almost Perfect Parlor

Where cows, equipment, and people meet... Simple solutions for the heart of your dairy.

WE DELIVER
SIGN UP HERE AND WE'LL SEND YOU OUR FRESHEST STUFF.

Parlor tools

By Paul Peetz

American Comedian Mitch Hedberg once said “This shirt is dry clean only. Which means…it’s dirty.” It would appear that Mitch was one of us who determined cleaning, especially when it took special measures, wasn’t a high priority.

I can’t help but think of this thought process when I visit farms. Cleaning cow’s teats is hard work.  Cleaning dirty cows teats is even harder.  From the beginning of discussing milk quality, people have spoken about milking clean dry teats.  People have tried numerous tools to produce different results but in the end cleaning teats, especially ones brought to the parlor dirty, is hard work.

Tools are available to aid the process, better dips, better towels and even machines promising the ability to reduce labor and improve consistency are readily available. Since the beginning of history man has developed tools to aid in the process of doing the work.  As a matter of fact the development of tools is one of the things that differentiate human beings as a species.

The issue I most often see then is not the development or access to tools; it is the implementation of them into the existing routine. Take a look at what you are asking the milkers to do; is it realistic to expect them to deliver clean dry teats in the time they are allowed?  Can they consistently deliver the three rules of cow preparation, 15 secs of stimulation, 30 seconds of contact time and 90 secs of lag time?

Tools will always exist; tools will likely always improve, the job of managers and support people then is to properly implement them into the daily tasks with the best likelihood of success.

 

October 14, 2014

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Paul Peetz knows what it takes to keep milking equipment working efficiently and profitably. By combining
an engineering degree with a lifetime of farming experience, Paul brings common sense solutions to complex
challenges.

Paul is a territory sales manager for Milk-Rite and can be contacted directly at paul.peetz@milk-rite.com.

Tom Wall is passionate about helping people reach their potential. Although Tom speaks Spanish, he’s not a
translator. Tom trains employees and helps dairy managers implement simple systems that work.

Tom owns Dairy Interactive and can be contacted directly at tom@
dairycoach.com
.

Almost all of "The Almost Perfect Parlor" blog is licensed Creative Commons by-nc-sa.
Our posts and products are licensed with traditional copyright © 2012-2023 by The Almost Perfect Parlor Team. All rights reserved.

When in doubt, all you need to do is ask.