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Sunnyside, WA | Glenn,
First off, I was not a believer in pre stripping until about 1 1/2 ago when we started on one of our dairies. One towel per cow is a key, and if you are not using one towel per cow, no matter what procedure, it is a dangerous game you are playing with pathogens. We use only cloth towels, but paper would work too. Cloth is better with our open lots. Our procedure for our double 12 is:
Spray, strip, spray one cow and repeat for the first six cows
Go back to the first cow, wipe and attach unit, then move on to the next cow for 6 cows
Repeat procedure for the other 6 cows on the side
It was quite a challenge going to this from the old procedure of spray 12, wipe 6, attach 6, wipe 6, attach 6. Still using that procedure in our double 25. The parlor got very slow for the first few days as everyone got adjusted to it. Then it started to speed up. Its probably one of the fastest double 12's around now. We can routinely milk 11+ turns per hour through this 30+ year old, non rapid exit 45" herringbone. Milkers convinced me to spray first as it provided lubrication and made it easier to strip. Second spray is for the iodine to stay on the teat and get some kill. Treated ALOT of cows for mastitis that first 3 weeks, now it has slowed considerably. SCC dropped from 350 to under 200. Other barn is actually higher SCC now and I am thinking of pre stripping in both barns soon. My guess (not based on fact) is that it is important to take a little milk as the first couple squirts are probably the highest SCC.
Mastitis is always going to be a challenge. My goal was to lower SCC. Generally, but not always, mastitis incidence will drop as SCC drops. I have a few more treated cases of mastitis now, but I think its because we were not catching the cases before and thus raising the SCC. I know the herd as a whole is in better shape after I started pre stripping.
Good luck. Sounds like compliance will be the biggest challenge. It was for me and still is today.
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pre-strip - do you need to get milk?
