Presentation held for EDF

1. less Work, more Cows, …
Teun Sleurink – DairyTuner

2. Your Focus…

3. Focus, Focus...
• Average DIM (Day In Milk), of
around 165-180, all year.
• Maintain highest Feed Efficiency
• Reproduction becomes main priority
• Transition period without problems...
• Systemize organization

4. Some Layouts are just perfect to manage…

5. Industrial Mentality
In manufacturing each step in the
process is performed according a
prescribed method or a
Standard Operating Procedure for
optimization of labor and time.
Shortversion:
Every part of the process should be
completely described.

6. Weekly and Daily Schedules
Standardized schedules
• Definines structure
• Definines the time needed
• Eases the mind
• Often more important for the owner
than personnel...

8. USA/Germany
Cost of labor per Kg/Milk
Idaho Texas E.Germany
Cattle 2474 3433 825
Wages per hour $9.25 $9.25 €11.00
Cost/kg $0.0324 $0.0340 €0.05
Young Stock 1003 1205 300
Source JMC,llp JMC,llp Q&QFarming
Source: Johnson, Mormino&Crawford LLP, Ontario, California
Q&Q Farming, Frank Helming.

9. USA/Germany
(on same wage level):
Idaho Texas Ost Deu
Cattle 2474 3433 825
Wages per hour €11.00 €11.00 €11.00
Cost/kg €0.0385 €0.0404 €0.05
Young Stock 1003 1205 300
Source JMC,llp JMC,llp Q&QFarming
Source: Johnson, Mormino&Crawford LLP, Ontario, California
Q&Q Farming, Frank Helming.

10. Parlor performance in
Germany
Ø Höchste Niedrigste
STUNDEN / MELKER(S) / TAG 24,38
STUNDEN / TREIBER(S) / TAG 12,93
GESAMT STUNDEN 37,30
Ø KG MILCH / TAG 20.737
KG MILCH / STUNDE / PERSON** 556 936 292
** Einschießlich Sauber machen und Treiben
Kosten Kosten Kosten
KOSTENBEISPIEL MELKEN /100 KG /100 KG /100 KG
11,50 Euro pro Stunde € 2,07 € 1,23 € 3,94

11. Optimization of a cow’s time:
A cow has 24 hours. Albright (1993) has researched
the time stucture of “Beecher Arlinda Ellen”,
because she produced the world record milk yield
(>22.500kg in one lactation).
Eating: 6.3 hours
Lying down : 13.9 hours
Ruminating: 8 hours (of which 7.5 in the freestall)
Management should not interfere with the daily
schedule of the cow.

12. Standardized schedule:
• Eating: 3-5 hours
• Lying/ resting: 12-14 hours
• Social interaction: 2-3 hours
• Ruminating: 7-10 hours (<0,5 hour standing)
• Drinking: 30 minutes
• Time in transit and Milk Barn;
no more than 2.5 to 3 hours

13. BMW’s CowFlow
BMW Agro, switched Sorting-gate
management to SL (Self Locking)
headlock-management… Purpose:
• max: 45 min milking (2x)
• max: 30 min in Headlocks (1X)
• Complete all tasks in one shift

14. BMW-Agro 2008

15. BMW-Agro 2010
Create walk thru space

16. BMW-Agro New
Split Groups
200 125 100
130 130 130 130
20
30 30
Freestalls/Stanchions 1:1

17. HeadLock-Management
Time saving:
• No need to take cows back to Group
• Cows don’t lose time eating
• Cowflow behind Milkbarn greatly
improved: no Traffic Jam
• Many Cows treated in a short Time
• No cleaning Time, at Sorting-gate

18. With RFID-Scanner
• Quick identification
• Protocol (i.e: Vetcheck, insemination,
Vaccination or Hormone program) is
integrated into scanner program
• Data entry is done directly at the
scanner, and there is a direct
transfer to the main PC, saving time
for data entry

19. Data entry on the Spot…

20. Sorting Gate:
Only with:
• Dry cows
• Hoof trimming
• Sale Cows
• Incidental cases

21. Synchronize
• Adjust mixerwagon size to group size
• Adjust feeding time to milking time
• Supply fresh feed after milking
• Cows locked, then insemination
• Finish group after group

22. Time evaluation Headlocks:
Source: A.M.Wagner-Storch&R.W. Palmer Univ. Of Wisconsin, Madison

23. Cost per System:
Source: A.M.Wagner-Storch&R.W. Palmer Univ. Of Wisconsin, Madison

24. Save time with many groups
• The big dairies in the USA are usually
built with 4row concept.
• Smaller and more groups create
chances to keep cows in one group
during lactation.
• Consider smaller groups in milkbarn
setup, i.e 1 hand in rotary parlor…

25. Cross Ventilated 2x4 Rows
Any need for air in Europe?
Source: J.D Harner, Ph.D. & J.F. Smith, Ph.D. Kansas State

26. Cross Ventilated 2x4 Rows
Source: J.D Harner, Ph.D. & J.F. Smith, Ph.D. Kansas State

27. Saving time Freshcows:
A big difference with the USA:
In USA the drymatterintake (DMI) of
the transition group is painstakingly
measured. Why not in Europe?
Further measures:
• No overcrowding of the Transition
Groups max. 75 %
• In the summer, cool Drycows too!

28. No need for Freshcow Protocol
Large dairies who adhere to the above
measures, often do not need use the
Freshcow protocol any longer.
Herdmanagers and assistants are so
convinced of this correlation that they
monitor the dry cow feedingdata
themselves (DMI) daily.

29. Efficiency Opportunities:
• Headlocks+ Scanner: fastest method,
least labour
• Sorting gate only for relieving Headlock
management
• Synchronize your daily processes
• More groups mean: less moving
• Monitoring Dry Matter Intake prevents
work in the Fresh Pen

30. In short:
• To optimize, look for the perfect layout
• Optimizing labour efficiency starts with
optimizing the Cows circumstance
• Create simple KPI’s (Key Performance
Indicators) to monitor your business
• Grow, more cows is easier...