A lean dairy farm also needs a lean dairy shed or milking parlour. Is your dairy shed or facilities a lean dairy shed? Are you thinking about building a new dairy shed and want to incorporate lean thinking into your shed design? I have been talking to a farmer in NZ that is in this process. I didn’t incorporate a detailed section on this topic in my book (and if there is another edition I will do) but I had a quick think about some of the frustrations I have seen in our own shed and things to consider to make your process/ facilities more lean and simple. Here is a list of some things that you should consider if building a new dairy shed (and these depend on the size/budget and if you will have a team to run the sheds):
Usability:
- Ensure things such as control panels are easy to reach and use
- Is it easy to understand the equipment
- How easy it everything to use for everyone
- Are things at the right height for any employee (men and woman) to prevent repetitive strain injuries
- General ergonomics
- What is the surface finish of the concrete floor and how slippery does it get?
- Is there steps everywhere that you have to go up and down
- Are all switches to do washes next to each other or do people have to leave the shed to go outside between wash to switch other control panels?
- Do people have to bend and reach into awkward spots to get to taps?
- How easy is the wash – what is the cost to do automatic wash (here it will be an opportunity cost of human error in manual washes and lost milk vs automation of system)
- What kind of alarms/ automatic stops are in place to prevent incorrect taps being turned so that milk doesn’t end up down the drain or in the wrong vat
- Are there bale labels on the inside of the rotary also to match the outside labels
- Are feed silos labelled and corresponding pipes in shed labelled so easy to see which silo is for what feed
- Are all tanks (eg cooler water etc) labelled and direction of flow clear
- Are there Andon cords available to switch off/ start platform quickly if needed
- Is there platform/ bale panels at the right height for the team member for easy use
- Are there fixed locations for spray cans/ tools needed at point of use
Animal welfare:
- How easy is it for cows to slip off bails?
- Is there a safe (both for people and animals) method for being able to take cows of platforms that have slipped through bails?
- How slippery are the ramps into the shed
- Can cows easily turn around if needed
- What animal comfort facilities will there be eg brushes
- How will stones be minimised on the yards/ platform to reduce lameness
- How easily/ accurately can animals be drafted – is it automatic or does someone have to stand and wait for cow to come around to draft manually
Maintenance:
- How easy it is to clean feed bins
- Is it easy to hose down the platform? Or are you hosing up an incline with a lip just so that the muck and water flows back down to the drains?
- Are all components that need maintenance easy to replace with standard parts?
- Does the equipment have the ability to warn you automatically if there is a problem/ breakdown/ malfunction?
- How easily is the shed going to get dirty from cows? (eg are you going to have to constantly wash down all the walls etc or is mess contained within an easy to clean area such as a pit)
- What kind of preventative maintenance is required and how easy is it to do this?
- Are there awkward corners that are hard to get to to clean and will just collect dirt and rubbish
- Are there unnecessary elevated areas that can cause trip hazards/ falls, can become slippery and are an extra effort to clean
- What warning sensors are there – if the temperature of vats is too high/ low or stops working will it automatically alarm you or do you have to check daily manually to make sure vat is being cooled correctly?
Infrastructure:
- Where are the drains built? Are they immediately under taps or is water running across floors to reach badly positioned drains
- Pumps/ pipes/ taps – are they all labelled and crystal clear what is what
- Are all pipes/ cables easy to access if they split? – or are they built into the concrete foundation so leaks can’t be found easily or repaired without having to break the whole foundation
- What kind of alarms/ automatic stops are in place to prevent incorrect taps being turned so that milk doesn’t end up down the drain or in the wrong vat
- Are there bale labels on the inside of the rotary also to match the outside labels
- Are feed silos labelled and corresponding pipes in shed labelled so easy to see which silo is for what feed
- Are all tanks (eg cooler water etc) labelled and direction of flow clear
- What kind of after sales support is there – local and plenty of expertise or one person somewhere in Australia with limited understanding?
- Are their dry areas for hanging wet clothes/ boots?
- Is there a office area and how easy it is to keep water/ dirt out of it
- Is there a separate area for kitchen/ toilets that is elevated and easy to keep clean of water/ dirt from shed
- What will be the flow of cows like in and out – is entrance wide enough or will it be causing blockages
- What system is in place to ensure cows get off the platform rather than staying on
- Is the rotary the right size for your herd and milking time (eg what is the shortage and longest milk times of your herd?) – if all your cows have to go around twice as the one platform rotation is too fast to get milked out than this will be a problem. It is good to check data if you can about your herd.
- Where are wash down hoses located? Is pressure/ location sufficient to clean the platform etc?
- How are wash down hoses stored? Do they just lie on the ground creating trip hazards or is there a simple reel/ storage system for them?
- What are the drains like ? – Are they big enough to sufficiently clear water?
- Is there good wet proof locations for shed supplies/ drugs (eg lockable cupboards/ fridges) for easy organised storage and access
- Are there good wet proof offices for computers/ hardware etc
- Material/ supplies storage – where will this be? Is it at point of use (eg mineral pallet next to silage wagon/ silos)/ is it covered/ easy access to
Technology
- What technology will you use to run the shed
- Is this technology/ software cloud based where you pay an annual subscription fee and software updates will automatically load to your system or do you have to do expensive upgrades to your whole system every few years as new versions of the technology are made available
- Is data cloud based or sitting on hard-drives with harder access and updates/ changes
- What technology are you using to track all animal data – and what is the maintenance requirements/ costs of any hardware required (eg pedometers)
- What support will you get for the software/ data management
Sustainability
- Energy efficiency of the shed
- How efficient is the water usage
- Water reuse/ recycle options