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“We have really noticed how quickly some of the cows milk out. Before we had the cluster removers it was a case of just getting the cups off when you got there. There’s no doubt we would have been over milking in the old dairy so it’s bound to be better for their health”

Milking from the inside out.

Jim McKeown has been dairy farming in Yarroweyah in Northern Victorian for around 35 years. Jim was previously milking 160 cows on a 16 unit swingover while his son Michael was undertaking a similar task on his 12 unit swingover situated only 3km up the road. Given the logistics of the family’s situation, it made perfect sense for father and son to pool their resources and consolidate their two herds.                                                                                                   

With Jim spending 1 ¾ hours and Michael 2 ½ hours milking in separate dairies the decision was made to install a new rotary system designed to milk a larger herd and dramatically reduce time and labour requirements. Calling upon Advanced Dairy systems and Yarroweyah Engineering, the father and son team decided upon installing a WestfaliaSurge Mag 40 internal rotary system. The Mag 40 is the first rotary of its kind in Australia and allows the milker a complete 360 degree view of their herd from inside the rotary. “Michael’s always been stringent with his herd management and he wanted to keep a close watch on the herd throughout milking. Originally we were looking at another herringbone but then we saw the Mag 40 and knew that it was the dairy we were looking for”, said Jim.                                                                                                                                        

The McKeowns new internal rotary is complete with WestfaliaSurge’s DemaTron 70 milk meters, automatic NLIS ear tag ID, automatic drafting, automatic feeding, and the WestfaliaSurge DairyPlan herd management system, together with DPView touch screen and text to speech technology. “Given it’s the first rotary of its kind in Australia the guys at Advanced Dairy Systems have done a great job”, said Jim.Using the DairyPlan herd management system, each cow in the McKeown’s herd is automatically identified from their NLIS ear tag as they enter the dairy. The system is then able to provide relevant information on each cow in terms of milk yield, feed consumption, health and breeding and can even broadcast individual cow alarms through a speaker system in the dairy. An example of an in-parlour cow alarm would be the announcement “Bail 8, Cow 323 - Mastitis - Bucket Cow”.

With information automatically updated via their DemaTron 70 milk meters the McKeown’s system now provides individual cow alarms for ‘bucket milk’ (for colostrum or antibiotic cows), ‘do not milk’, ‘low milk yield’ and “high conductivity”. “The alarms are a great reassurance, because we’ve got a lot of fresh cows at the moment. When a fresh cow comes in it won’t let you put the cups on until you’ve connected the test bucket, it’s that simple”, said Jim.

WestfaliaSurge’s DemaTron 70 milk meters include automatic cluster removal as standard and the McKeown’s have noticed significant results not only in time and labour but potential improvements in herd health and teat condition. “We have really noticed how quickly some of the cows milk out. Before we had the cluster removers it was a case of just getting the cups off when you got there. There’s no doubt we would have been over milking in the old dairy so it’s bound to be better for their health”, said Jim.

The McKeown’s now milk a 300 strong herd in around 1 ½ hours, in comparison to over 4 hours the two previously spent in their swingover herringbones. “The cows only took about a week to get settled in and we’re saving heaps of time and labour at milking. Now it’s just a matter of taking full advantage of the DairyPlan herd management system in terms of breeding, feeding to production and all our other options”, said Jim.

Michael & Jim McKeown - Yarroweyah, Victoria