Herringbone Milking Sheds In Favour In North

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29128, 13 February 1960, Page 9

Herringbone Milking Sheds In Favour In North

"TN the main dairying districts of JI the North Island three out of every five new cow sheds have been constructed on the herringbone pattern in ihe last two years,” writes a Canterbury man who was recently in the North Island. "This system revolves around a central well, in which the milker operates, and a series of five and sometimes six bales on either side in a herringbone fashion. The cows are yarded six at a time and parked in the herringbone like motor-cars parked on the angle. The milker puts the cups on all the cows on one side, milks these out, and then applies the cups to the set of six cows on the other side. “Milking in this type ot shed is both quicker and very much easier for the milker as it involves no stoooing whatsover. The use of the herringbone has speeded up the operations and is a further factor in the greater number of cows being milked per labour unit over the major part of the North Island in recent years. “The orthodox shed is practically impossible to convert to a herringbone style and not very many operators are changing over from the usual style of shed. Where new sheds are being built, however, most people are using the new style. The initial cost is quite a lot cheaper than an orthodox shed. More Care “One difficulty is that more care is needed in baling up the cows to group together animals which milk out in about the same length of time. This requires a greater degree of responsibility on the part of the milker. It would seem likely that herds will gradually be bred to a stage where they milk out in approximately the same time. For instance, a few cows did not take kindly to machine-stripping when it replaced hand-stripping some 10 to 15 years ago. and they were gradually eliminated from the herd, and any heifers showing this tendency in any marked degree were culled after their first season. It seems likely that herringbone operators may gradually work towards a herd of cows which fit in to the new system of milking. “Where South Island dairymen are contemplating building new cow Bheds, a trip to the North

Island and a day or two assisting some of their fellow dairymen in the north will convince them that this unlikely-looking structure is a real asset and they can both save money initially and save time later by installing this type of shed “Dairy farmers in the north are moving steadily towards tanker collection of whole milk from their dairies instead of home separation and the production of cream for butter factories. The tendency is to milk more cows a labour unit, dispense with pigs, and go on to tanker collection with the whole of the milk being processed into butter and dried skim or butter and casein. This type of dairy production in common in the Waikato to the extent that it now outnumbers all other forms of dairy production in that are?, and it is gaming in momentum m the Manawatu district. So far it has not made very much progress in Taranaki although tankers are collecting whey from many cheese factories, concentrating this at the sugar of milk factory at Kapuni.”