User:Minilactor/Rotary Milking Platforms

ROTARY MILKING PLATFORMS    The use of Rotary Milking Platforms in milking sheds or milking parlours has become well accepted & fairly widespread throughout Australia, New Zealand.the U.K. & Europe since the first unit went into operation in Australia in Nov. 1968. The herringbone rotary milking platform cosists of a circular steel platform on which cows to be milked are arranged in a herringbone pattern with their heads facing out so that the operator works from the inside. This concept was first proposed by Frank Phillips a design engineer turned dairy farmer & the details were first published in the Pakenham Gazette a locally distributed rural newspaper on Jan. 27 1967 & later in the Weekly Times a national publication that is widely read & greatly  respected for it's extensive rural information. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND   THe task of milking cows was historically labour intensive which at the beginning of last century meant that one person milked by hand one cow at a time in primitive & unhygienic conditions,& could milk possibly less than 10 cows/hr. this situation began to change after W.W.1 when mechanical milking was gradually introduced throughout the Australian dairy industry & with the development of efficient walk through dairies (or milking parlours) enabled one operator to milk around 35 cows/hr. This improvement was essentially a batch production method & was generally in line with industry at the time which was also manufacturing products on a batch production system. During W.W.2 industry began to rapidly change to a continuous production line systemas it was found that as batches got larger to cater for increased or the need to cut costs then the movement of larger batches became expensive & unwieldy which justified the outlay on new plant but also had the benefit of vastly improving management & quality control of the product. The introduction of the herringbone milking parlour was an attempt by the dairy industry to improve the batch handling of a herd of cows & there was a noticable improvement in milking efficiency with the average being about 45 cows/hr/operator (although some achieved better than this)however a significant benefit was achieved by having the cows at an elevated level which eliminated the backbreaking & physically stressful bending & stooping. The herringbone milking parlour was gradually introduced in Australia from around 1960 & continued to undergo a variety of modified versions for the rest of the 1900's, however regardless of the version they are still essentially a batching process which by present day standards could be considered 50 years out of date.ROTARY HERRINGBONE MILKING PLATFORM  The limitations of the then current milking shed designs were inhibiting dairy farmers from increasing there herds to an economical level as the daily twice daily task of milking was taking up to 3 hours/milking. The concept of a rotating platform with the cows standing in a herringbone pattern with the operator working in the centre of this annular platform gradually took shape in 1966 & the first publication of the idea was reported in the Pakenham Gazette in the Jan.27 edition in 1967. The Pakenham Gazette which is still in circulation is a predominantly rural newspaper with a loyal readership. Milking cows on a rotating platform was not entirely new as a report appeared in Power Farming in Aust. & New Zealand in June 1953 which described a unit operating in CamdenN.S.W. which was known as the Rotolactor 7 was handlinga herd which varied between 1100 & 1250, however it was extremely labour intensive needing (according to the report) 12-14 operators & had an output of 300 cows/hr. This was the only one of its kind in Australia & for obvious reasons did not have much relevence to the average dairy farmer at the time, however because of the name, when the Frank Phillips rotary platform published a jounalist coined the title Minilactor & the name susequently stuck. Prior to initial publication of the concept Patent Applications were lodged in Australia, New Zealand& Uited States of America & these applications were all successful ( see references) in addition to this the design was entered in the Industrial Sesign Council of Australia, Prince Philip Prize of 1970 & received a letter of commendation   Following te publication of the Weekly Times 1 May 1968 edition a Bill Smits a dairy farmer from Mardan. Victoria made an approach to have this rotaty milking platform installed on his farm & since the concept had never been presented to the relevent Dairy Division of the Victorian Drpt. of Agriculture it was first 0f all neccessary to gain their approval. It would not be unfair to say that they were singularly unimpressed, it distinctly moved them out of their comfort zone which neededa decision & hopefully a suitable defect or minor infringement on the current regulations would render the idea unacceptable, however the design fitted easily into all of the regulations then applying & as a result the Head of the Division gave approval for the first unit to be installed. This unit was built in prefabricated components by E.G.Martin Engineering in Dandenong, Victoria & assembled on site at Mardan & withpout modification went successfully into operation in Nov. 1968 & this was unquestionably the worlds first viable commercial rotary milking platform.Description of Minilactor Rotary Milking Platform   The Minilactor Rotary Milking Platform was designed using the Principles of Mechanical Milking which were outlined by by Dr. Whittlestone in a publication of that name. Dr. Whittlestone was a research scientist in NewZealand whose work was widely accepted within the dairying industry, he detailed the amount of time & procedure that should be followed prior to attaching the milk clusters, he also stipulated the amount of time that should be allowed for complete milking. Taking into account all the recommendations of Dr. Whittlestone it meant that each cow had to spend 5 1/2 minutes on the platform, however as 2 spaces had to be left for cows to enter & exit it meant that that a total of 13 spaces had to be provided, so with this configuration & a timing of one cow every 30 seconds, the platform had a theoretical production of 120 cows/hr. with one operator, which was far more efficient than any milking parlour then in existance. Onnce the configuration of the cows was determined this then set the dimensions of the platform, the external diameter became 20-0 feet or 6100mm. with an internal diameter of 14-0ft. or 4270mm., the platform was supported on steel castors which in turn ran on a circular track. The drive unit was by an electric motor which drove through a geared reduction to an inflated tyre, which when inflated to the correct pressure drove the platform at the requiredspeed. Idler wheels on the opposite side of the platform maintained the platform centrally. Milking Routine The cows were assembled into a yard of suitable size & configuration to suit the farm layout with the yard being designed to funnel the cows into an entrance crush, which then allowed them to enter individually through an entrance gate which was automatically opened by a pneumatic cylinder actuated by a stop on the rotating platform. The cow when in position were prepared according to recommended procedures, the timing of this pre-milking routine was 30 sec. for cow to enter with 30 secs. being allowed for preparation & attaching the mik clusters.The automatic addition of a feed supplement was sufficient to ensure that the cows were keen to come onto the platform & during the time of milk preparation a head yoke was automatically closed to make certain that they then remained in position untill the end of the rotation when the head yoke was automatically tripped to open. This head yoke device was all that was neccessary with the cows remaining very relaxed untill it was released. This arrangement of vertually allowing the cows to determine the space requirements was extremelly successful as the cows always seemed to gain some confidence in the fact that they were never separated physically from the herd, & this was even more obvious when new heifers were being introduced to the milking routine for the first times. Early Acceptance The concept of milking cows on a rotary platform was concidered to be very radical with the result that the original unit operated under a great deal of scrutiny for some time whilst the industry at large observed the operation to determine whether it had a future, & dairy farmers were not being encouraged by the Dairying Division of the Dept. of Agriculture to seriously consider rotary milking platforms as a viable option when considering the replacement of a milking shed. The rotary was gradually taken up by local farmers & oaverseas farmers together with the design being odopted by a Japanese firm however due to the uncertain state of the Australian Dairy Industry & the fact that many dairy farmers were leaving the industry, the market for most dairing equipment was stagnent. It was not untill the benefits of improved milking times were recognised by the use of rotary milking platforms that remaining dairyfarmers could see that it was possible to have very large herds( between 500 & 1000 cows) with a milking efficiancy of around 100 cows/hr./operator