Approaching mid-way through my internship in Drumgoon Dairy USA, it has not taken long to discover that the heart of Drumgoon is of course the milking parlours, which strive each and every day to produce the maximum amount of milk in the most efficient manner possible.

Milking at Drumgoon Dairy takes place 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year. At present, there are a total of 2,800 lactating cows, being milked three times daily, adding up to a colossal 8,400 milkings per day.

Milking takes place in two main parlours, the original double 24 unit parallel parlour, which milks predominantly crossbred Jersey x Holstein x Norwegian red cows, and the newly built, double 30 unit parallel parlour, built in 2013, which milks predominantly Holstein cows.

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Drumgoon also includes two hospital parlours, used for milking medicated/freshly calved cows, ensuring contaminated milk not fit for human consumption is kept separately.

On average, a total of 10 medically treated cows per week are kept isolated in the hospital parlour, an admirable 0.007% of the lactating herd.

Hospital parlours are also used as a collection point for harvesting fresh colostrum, given to all newly born calves. All parlours are high tech, Auto ID, rapid exit and conducted by a team of employees working over a period of twelve hour shifts, managed by an overall parlour manager.

Milk weights and conductivity are recorded in real time individually for each cow, which is added to data collected on cow activity and rumination. Maintenance and repair is enhanced by an underground sub-way, where all electronic equipment, milk meters etc., are housed and stored, directly underneath the parlour itself.

Drumgoon aim to achieve a pleasant environment within the parlour to help maximise production, ventilation is aided by fans, drawing air into the holding area and parlour.

Sprinklers, attached to the roofing of the holding areas, are used to dampen and reduce temperatures of the cows while waiting to enter the milking parlour, once entered into the parlour, underfoot conditions are aided by the use of rubber matting. Feeding, however, does not occur within the parlours.

The original dairy parlour, milking on average 1,800 crossbred cows, yields approximately 64,000 litres of milk daily, with a somatic cell count of 120,000, butter fat content of 4.00 and a protein content of 3.58.

In slight comparison to this, the more recently built parlour, milking on average 1,000 Holstein cows, yields approximately 35,000 litres daily, with a butter fat content of 3.73 and a protein content of 3.13.

The use of supplemented BST (Bovine Somatotropin) is permitted in the US, a naturally occurring protein hormone found in all cows, used to boost milk production and yields by an average of 3.5 litres per day. BST is used in Drumgoon, every 14 days, from 60 days after calving until 200 days of pregnancy.

With construction well underway of the new expansion, an extra capacity of 1,100 head, Drumgoon hopes to expand the herd to 3,800 lactating cows over the next two months. The future aim of Drumgoon dairy is the completion for the expansion and to be fully stocked with 4,000 lactating cows and 500 dry cows at all times.