Spring Break
University gives dairy facility an extreme makeover
DALLAS DUNCAN
Issue date: 3/18/09 Section: Variety
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Built in 1974 to replace the dairy at Four Towers, the Teaching Dairy allows up to six cows to be machine-milked at a time.
Students in many animal and dairy science classes get to experience the milking process, but "it is just an outdated and inefficient facility," said Whitney Franks, a sophomore from Waynesboro, in an interview Monday.
The existing structure needs repairs, but "some aspects, such as automatic take-offs, could no longer be repaired due to lack of parts," said Lane Ely, professor of animal and dairy science, in an e-mail interview Monday.
The new dairy will be in the same location, but the only part of the existing milking parlor that will remain is the bulk tank - where milk fresh from cows is stored and cooled.
"The parlor will be more up-to-date and similar to the industry for students," Ely said.
The entire parlor will change from a double-three side-opening to a double-six herringbone design.
The double-three is an uncommon structure to see in the South, Franks said.
The double-six, on the other hand, "is much like a parking lot," Franks said. "It allows six cows to come in at each side and turn at an angle, allowing the people milking to reach the cow with ease."
To get the cows into the parlor to be milked, a mechanical crowd gate has been installed.
This gate "makes a dramatic difference in the flow of cows into the parlor," Kenny Kotani, a senior from Middletown, Md., wrote in an e-mail interview Tuesday.
The gate will "improve the efficiency of the milking operation as well as saving time, money and the stress level of the dairy cows," he wrote.
There also will be changes to the milking system and data recording.
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