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Parlor management... it's probably one of the hardest tasks for dairy owners and managers to deal with. You diligently establish the milking procedures that best fit you operation. You then develop policies and procedures that you want your operators to follow. Lastly you invest time and money in training them. And if you are like most managers you then hope for the best. Not really knowing if they are being consistent because lets face it... it is impossible for you to be there to watch what they are doing all day, every day. What we do know is that the milkers have a tremendous influence on cow health, milk production, and milk quality. We know their functions are very vital. But how can you really manage the process and know that operators are being consistent day after day? Some install video cameras in the parlor but as so many people have said... they are of little use because it is not practical to watch hours of video looking for problems. So you end up hoping for the best and in the end find yourself managing problems rather than by heading them off. |
Now there is a simple solution With the BECO Nexus systems you can now know very simply what has taken place in the parlor when you were not there to see for yourself. This is possible because the Nexus systems capture vital information from every cow milked and for every milking session. FlowNexus is an automatic take-off with imbedded intelligence that keeps an eye on every event and reports the details of every milking. |
Real time data collected from the milk flow of FlowNexus stall #4. Milk let down time for this cow was approximately 80 seconds. She was milked in manual for five minutes with one minute of over milking. The information was sent to the computer and stored along with all other cows milked so the data could be used for the summary report. |
Parlor Performance Summary Report A simple report can be automatically printed at the end of a milking shift or at any time desired. This report is designed to be simple to get and simple to read. It contains data on what took place for the period of time selected either by shift or by hour. The first list of data presented is statistical information on the number of cows milked, number of unit attaches, number of times units came off either automatically, when the milkers forced units off, or when the unit came off because the cow did not let her milk down, and how many times the unit was kicked off. The second list of data presented is for the average unit on time vs. the unit idle time and how many times the stalls were turned over per hour. The third list of data presented is the summary of how fast cows let their milk down. If you have established a full prep procedure with adequate machine application lag time you will expect the majority of cows to be in full let-down within a few seconds. This report will let you know how well that is happening because it classifies the number and percentage of cows that let their milk down fast, and the ones classified as slow. This criteria is defined by the individual dairy so the system can adapt to individual management styles. Since the report can be selected by shifts it is a valuable tool to see where and when things go wrong. |
The fourth list of data presented is the summary for how many units are being re-attached. It is not uncommon to see dairies that have over 10% of all the cows milked having units reattached. Obviously, if equipment is malfunctioning a high number of units will most likely need reattaches. With the FlowNexus the imbedded inelegance will be able to tell you not only which cows are being reattached but also if those reattaches were necessary. This is a valuable tool in identifying equipment malfunction and operator performance. Once the data is analyzed and the number of re-attaches are reduced the parlor will speed up and cows will get healthier. The fifth list of data presented is the summary of how many cows are milked on manual and how long they were over milked. We all know some cows need manual milking but now you will know how many times this is happening and if operators are attending to those cows and not over milking them. |
Here is when things get REAL interesting! After reviewing the summary report just explained, you have noticed that last nights shift made a lot of mistakes. Now you want to know more about what really took place. Who, what, where, and when. With a simple click of the computer mouse you call up the "pit data" report and see everything that took place in incredible detail. Within seconds you can view a complete milking shift, spotting everything from the sequence that was used to attach machines, the units being ran in manual, every time the unit was manually detached by the operators, which cows didn’t let their milk down... the list goes on. You can see the exact time they started milking, when it ended and any breaks that were taken in between. With this information you now have the tools to manage what happens when you are not around, Operators can not deny that things happened because you have a permanent record of everything. Because the report time stamps every event you can back up your video recording and watch everything as if you were there when it happened. |
Sometimes things happen for a good reason... things do accidentaly go wrong. Sometimes new employees need time to adapt and require more training. But sometimes people just decide on their own to do as they wish regardless of your instruction. Regardless of the reason you now have the tools to know every day and every milking what is happening in the critical milking process. To experiance a visual picture of parlor performance, simply e-mail us by clicking here. We'll do a live demonstration on a real dairy using the system, and showcase it's capabilities over the internet.... direct to your computer. |