If well designed, both rotary and herringbone dairies can be:
- productive working environments
- cow friendly (for good flow flow)
- milker friendly (for good ergonomics)
This page will guide you through the considerations and decisions required after deciding the type of dairy and yard, and their sizes. Key elements to get right are the location of the dairy on the farm, the design of the dairy and that each step of the build is done in sequence.
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Using gravity is generally more reliable than pumps, and saves pumping costs. For example fresh water tanks may be able to be placed above the shed so water for the plate cooler can be fed by gravity. Washdown water could feed into effluent ponds by gravity which is turn, if sufficient head, could drive the travelling irrigator.
Yard at ground level with 'pit' for the platform.
Pit for the rotary platform, building and yard at ground level.
The yard, and platform/bail area of the dairy will generally be of similar height. When building a rotary dairy on a flat site it will need to be decided if the yard or the milker/cupping area is at ground height. It is common to raise the yard and have the milkers area at ground height.
However, less earthworks may be required if a ‘pit’ is dug around the platform for the cups-on cups-off area, leaving the yard and building at ground level. If the rotary has an internal milk line this would require a small central area to be dug. Heights between this and the effluent pond would need to be checked.
The water table must be well below the minimum depth for any excavation requirements (e.g. the effluent pond)
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Siting of dairy relative to main farm race and tanker access
For rectangular yards, enter at the rear of the yard, either on the end of the yard, or either corner.
For circular yards, the entry point for should be as far from the point of entry into the dairy as possible, allowing for cows to fill the circular area facing toward the dairy.
Try and minimise the amount of turns the cows need to make. For more information visit the Track & Yard section.
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Dairy design
Incorporating all the elements of good dairy design, to ensure efficiency and milker and cow comfort, into building plans or blueprints it tricky – particularly when building on a site with existing buildings or with challenging terrain.
The blueprints below illustrate how elements of good dairy design are brought together. Critical areas are annotated with explanations. They are intended as a visual aid only, but should provide enough information so that when modified to suit your specific site that the elements of good dairy design can be maintained.
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Consider the following:
Internal rate of return for investing in automatic cluster removers (and associated labour saving technology) over a range of rotary sizes.
- will it do what you want it to do
- what is it worth to you
- what the full cost is and therefore whether it is a good investment for your situation.
Where possible assign dollar values to calculate a Net Present Value (NPV) or an Internal Rate of Return (IRR). More information about technologies for the dairy can be found here.
For example, a 2014 study evaluated the return on installing automatic cluster removers and accompanying technology (automatic drafting, teat spraying and bail retention arms) to eliminate the cups-off operator for a 770 cow herd. Labour costs were assumed to be $30/hr. More details of the study can be found here.
