Minnesota/Wisconsin Engineering Notes

November 2001 Low Cost Parlors For Wisconsin and Minnesota Dairy Producers Siting Animal Production Operations Sizing Silage Piles New Agricultural and Alternative Energy Web Page Use Winter to Make Your Farm Safer Increasing pH by Low Level Aeration to Remove Soluble Phosphorus in Liquid Swine Manure Farmland Tile Drainage Design Workshop New Agricultural Drainage Publications Available Two New Farm Business Management Publications Available New University of Minnesota Department Head Resources Calendar

Low Cost Parlors For Wisconsin and Minnesota Dairy Producers David W. Kammel, Wisconsin Extension Engineer The transition from the tie-stall barn milking system to a free stall housing and parlor milking system has been occurring on Minnesota and Wisconsin farms for several years. However, the adoption of milking parlors on smaller family dairy farms has been slow due to the large costs involved with building a traditional parlor and freestall setup. Many family dairy farms want to maintain a herd size that allows them to avoid hiring extra farm labor. To accomplish this, the existing milking facilities need to be modernized. However, the cost of a new parlor, freestall barn, and a manure handling system is usually cost prohibitive when trying to spread the investment over 60-175 cows. At this point, producers reach a crossroads and must decide which direction they want their operation to take. Their options usually include: remodeling the present barn; moving the cattle out of the traditional barn and into a new freestall barn and parlor at a new location; getting out of dairying; or, building a new freestall barn and a retrofit parlor inside their present stall barn. Many have found the last option to be the most attractive in meeting their future goals. Advantages of Retrofitting Parlors In Barns Cost savings of 25-50% over new conventional parlors with a separate building. Savings can be put into building a new freestall facility to improve cow comfort. Provides an alternative use for empty dairy barns that remain on the property tax rolls. Allows for phasing in milking facility upgrades over time, reducing stress and interest costs. A safer and more comfortable environment for the milker. Doubles the number of cows milked per person per hour as compared to tie stall milking systems. The Dairy Modernization Team would like to provide information on low cost parlors to the over 10,000 dairy farms in Wisconsin and Minnesota that could benefit from their use. Many dairy producers have already demonstrated that retrofit parlors can be an attractive option in modernizing their milking facility. In some cases, the retrofit parlor serves as a temporary milking facility and in many others it is built to serve as the long-term milking facility. Dairy producers have found significant cost advantages in building retrofit parlors in an existing stall barn. Cost savings of up to 25-50% have been realized when using the present milking system and the building shell that already exits in the stall barn. The center driveway in a stall barn works well for a holding area and other parts of the barn can be used for housing extra cows, maternity pens, or a special needs area work area. Dairy producers have saved in excess of $40,000 by using their old stall barn as their milking center. These cost savings can make a nice down payment for a new freestall barn. The benefits of improved milk production and cow comfort are well documented when moving cows to a new freestall barn. Many producers also like the idea of being able to keep their debt load down and make improvements to their milking facilities over a period of time instead of trying to pay for the facility improvements all at one time. The UW-Extension Dairy Modernization Team has prepared a fact sheet and a new CD-ROM on low cost parlors to help demonstrate the application of retrofit parlors on Wisconsin and Minnesota family dairy farms. For ordering information see Resources.

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