“For small parlors, I don’t see rapid exit as an advantage. “As soon as the set that’s milked is out, it’s full again,” Weaver says of his system. A back gate, made of simple pipe on a pivot, is also operated from the pit and only used when the last group of cows is loaded, to keep cows from returning to the stalls. Only the front pendulum gate, which can be operated from anywhere within the pit using a clothesline pulley system, is needed to keep the cows where they should be. There is 15 square feet of space per cow in the holding pen, and no gate separates the pen from the stall area. He doesn’t need to go into the holding pen to load cows. If one heifer is inside the door, ready to occupy the stall, they all flow smoothly. His cows flow nicely, without any pushing or pulling, keeping them calm and making milking faster. Weaver recommends setting a stall angle of no more than 70 degrees, probably a bit less, so that the cows have a hard time turning around. While most of these are built for new facilities, they’ve retrofitted several – including their own – into existing barns.Īfter a few weeks, the heifers learn to come into the parlor and turn properly. The retrofit has been successful, and he and his sons have diversified their farm income by adding another enterprise: building simple, low-cost parlors for other area farms. Forty-five-degree elbows, instead of 90-degree turns, help to keep the waste lines open, as does regular maintenance. The cow deck, which slopes down just enough to allow easy cleaning, drains into the catch basin and is piped out from there. The pit slopes up, and we can walk in,” Weaver explains. A pit with a ramp that’s incline is not too steep, just in case an errant cow finds her way into it, also allows easier access for his family. His goal was to make a parlor that worked for his family’s needs as well as the cows’ comfort.

A simple pipe works to keep those coming and going separated. The cows exit the stalls, turn and return to an area behind the holding pen. About 4 feet of space on each side for the cows to enter and exit the parlor works well. There is 23 feet in between the walls for the eight-stall parlor design. The cow deck is 6 feet, 4 inches from the ceiling. The gate requires a clearance of 8 feet, 6 inches and required a ceiling cut.

Weaver opted to create his own low-cost, swing-eight parlor, complete with a front counterweighted pendulum gate, in what was once the tiestall barn.

Parlor dairy barn design