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Southwest Iowa | I work on a large dairy where we do not have enough parlor space to milk all of the cows 3x, so some of the cows are on 2x. Right now we are asking ourselves if we need to add on to the parlor to be able to milk these cows 3x. We milk all of our first and second lactation animals 3x, third lactation and greater are 2x. About four months ago we decided to take a group of cows third lactation and greater and put half on 3x and half on 2x, that group is now 110 to 130 days in milk and we are seeing an average of 13 lbs (5.9 kg) more milk from the 3x cows. I don't know if you would see that much of a milk increase or not, but I would bet it would be in the range of 8 to 10 pretty easy. Although cows that are later in lactation will not respond as much as cows that are earlier in their lactation. Something you already know, I'm sure.
Deciding if you want to (have labor to) milk the cows on a 3x schedule may be the deciding factor. Yes, they will eat more feed and there are some other increased costs (parlor chemicals for another wash, etc). Just have to plug the numbers in and see how it works for you.
Edited by Bin owner 11/30/2011 22:00
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2x vs 3x
