HILMAR, Calif. – Forget the days of chasing a stubborn Bossy into the barn, milking with one hand and using the other to keep a swishing tail or a stray hoof out of the pail.
In Jim Ahlem’s dairy barn, the cows eagerly wait to enter their stalls, need little chasing to enter or exit, and have little interaction with humans.
Which is fine by Ahlem, when he has more than 1,100 cows to milk each day. Using only two hired men, Ahlem can milk 210 cows per hour.
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The secret is an idea he got from New Zealand: A rotary milking barn. It looks like a giant merry-go-round, holding 40 cows at a time.
“Imagine a cereal bowl. Put a little water in it, then put another on top,” explains Ahlem. The parlor floats on the water, using a small motor to keep it turning.
One at a time the cows climb into the stalls, where a milking machine is attached and a rope strung up loosely behind the cow. Computers keep track of when the milking is finished, and the rope automatically drops away, allowing the cow to get off at the end of the revolution of the parlor. Another then takes her spot.
“I wasn’t in debt until I built the barn,” he says of the $800,000 (U.S.) it cost. He also ended up paying another $150,000 to house another 350 cows. However, he doesn’t regret the money.
“It’s extremely efficient,” Ahlem said, watching his herd slowly rotate by. “It lived up to all my expectations, and is doing all that I wanted it to do.”
In his old barn, it took 101Ú2 hours per milking of 14 cows at a time, and his workers ended up milking 22 hours a day. Now, it takes 51Ú2 hours per milking, with 40 cows at a time. At 1 a.m. and 1 p.m., the cattle line up for their rides.
The computers allow him to track each cow. Once a month he tests each for protein and fat. Electronic identification by the rear leg transfers information to a meter when she gets on the reader. All the information is inspected.
The result is a 23 percent cull rate.
“We keep track of breeding and calving dates. That’s taken into account when doing culling,” he said.
Ahlem planned to start using the milk-inducing hormone BST on his herd last fall, and said careful records would need to be kept.
“BST has to be highly managed,” he said. The recommendation is to check each cow’s body condition after 70 to 80 days on the hormone.
“If she’s skinny, don’t use it on her, she’s already working too hard. The fatter ones, carrying a little bit more weight, she’d be a better one.”
It costs $5 to $6 per shot every two weeks, and requires more feed for the cow, so that’s another reason to manage BST carefully.
He doesn’t plan to decrease his herd of 3,000 cattle, just increase production.
Having a large herd in California meant having the right shelters for the seasons. Summer temperatures can reach 106 F, so shade is provided along with misters. In winter, individual beds to lie in are provided.
Ahlem said his cattle are grouped according to production. The first string, for example, are the two year olds. They’re fed differently with silage, alfalfa, hay, corn, cotton seed and soy pellets. Almond hulls help extends the silage. Ahlem said his feed costs are about $2.95/cow per day.
When there are floods, such as in El Nino years, the hay prices increase.
With many large dairy operations in a concentrated area, Ahlem and other dairy producers are affected by water quality and availability in their area.
“We do have a problem, we recognize that and we’re working on that from a quality assurance program and we police ourselves.”
Ahlem, for example, built a new lagoon for $100,000.
Feeds that have a higher water demand, such as alfalfa hay, are costly and dairy producers often buy hay from Oregon or Nevada. Ahlem said it costs $165-$175 per ton, and he trucks his supply from Nevada, an eight-hour drive away.
He has 8,000 tons of corn silage at full capacity. He farms 160 acres, and grows corn, oats or wheat on 145 acres. He buys all his alfalfa.
Ahlem uses A.I. on his cows, and is a part of a group of dairy producers who use their own sires. A herdman does the breeding.
One of the ways the barns are kept clean is through a flush system used twice a day, which flushes the water to a lagoon. This washes the corrals.
Ahlem gives a lot of credit to his herdsman, who prepares the cows for milking, but also does the basic veterinarian duties needed: “You get a good man and he’s hard to replace.”
