The comparison of the characteristics of the rotary milking system to other milking systems

Five milking systems were observed and evaluated for efficiency by various performance measurements. Milking routine in each system was divided into the following sub-components: cow movement, cow preparation activity, machine time, dismount activities, machine idle time and operator's idle time. These performance measurements were used to determine the level of efficiency for the various milking systems and to determine how the systems could be improved.

It was found that cow movement was a critical component for themilking routine. Milking systems that had short cow entrance times were usually efficient if all other components remained constant. The 14 stall herringbone rotary system was the most efficient milking system with regard to cow throughput per hour by theoretical measures when staffed with 2 operators. In terms of cow throughput per man hour, the efficiency of the various milking systems depend upon the number of operators in the milking parlor. Therefore, the double 8 herringbone system with automatic detachers and one operator was the most efficient in cows milked per man hour. If different levels of mechanization such as crowd gates, automatic preparatory stalls, automatic detacher units, and feed rates were applied to these systems, efficiency for cow throughput might increase. Thiswould also allow a decrease in the number of operators which would increase the cow throughput per man hour.