When we bought this farm in 1998 it was workable, but in bad shape. We have made repairs over the years but quit milking a few years later as milking under the pipeline with just one person (the hubs had started an outside job by then) was a difficult task and the kids were growing up and moving out. As a result of just using it occasionally to raise bottle-fed calves that eventually went outside to live, it went down hill like an unused home. The roof needed work, which we knew, just not how bad. The room that had been originally for the purpose of raising calves was in terrible shape when we bought it and my husband had used it to free-stall (let them run loose) the calves at one point,, promising to keep it cleaned up, but somehow didn't and wouldn't let me - since it was his mess! The outer walls were already rotted out at the bottom where it had not been constructed properly by whomever built it. There was a shed on one end where someone had put yet another poorly built wall to divide it off from the calf room. We had to shore up the roof and take out the two walls with this project.
Over the years, the winters had been hard on the floors of the barn and the milkhouse, which we thought was small, but since have seen much smaller and cramped conditions. The concrete was broken, literally, and heaved up off the ground. Apparently no one ever heard of re-bar! When we broke it up we found junk, actual junk, thrown into it to make it 'stronger'. It just made it harder to break up into pieces we could cart off. There are still a few aesthetic things that need done, but they won't stop us from being licensed to milk again. It's just for our peace of mind and remedy keeping the barn warm enough to keep the waterlines in the cow quarters (formerly where they were milked under a pipeline) from freezing. This has always been a problem.
We started out by demolishing the old milkhouse and breaking up all those chunks of concrete floor and outer pad (for some reason you have to have a porch-like concrete pad outside the milkhouse). We found where someone had another milkhouse built where the outer pad was - two previous layers. Talk about a pain to get out!
Then we poured tons of concrete for new flooring and porch, built a new milkhouse with an actual re-barred and concreted in foundation. (The old one- no). Then we demolished the that old calf-raising section, tore out that concrete, dug a hole for the parlor pit, lined it with plastic and Styrofoam sheeting and poured more concrete. There was a LOT of concrete work involved. We put up walls and the equipment and cleaned like crazy. We discovered that the people who sold us the parlor system (used- right out of their barn) were not completely honest honest about how well the system worked. HINT: If someone says it worked the last time they used it, ask if they sold parts off of it or if they were actually using all of it! We had to re-build or replace way more than we should have of it. We expected to replace gaskets, that is a given, but not electrical parts because they sold pieces out of it earlier, or they broke down and they just bypassed them somehow. We also discovered they had not actually washed the system, but rather rinsed it only, when they quit milking. That was really bad! I am the equipment scrubber and a lot of acid and elbow grease had to be used to get that old and rotted milk fat out of the system. You can shiver now! But it is clean.
Here are some shots, not previously shown, of before and after. Other pictures have been posted in previous posts. There have been mostly shots from the milkhouse build so I'll concentrate more on the parlor here and finished inside of the milkhouse.
Not even kidding about how bad this room was. This is actually cleaned up some. The far right is where the re-entry walkway will be for the cows to go back into the barn. The old steel dividers and feed bunk are gone. They were really bad.
Tearing off the milkhouse.
Before the wall was knocked out. Still needed a little debris removal though.
Knocking out the that rotted wall. The one on the right also got taken out.
Those walls are gone and the pit extends into the what was the heifer shed. The one wall is rebuilt (left side) and the other one is the original heifer shed wall. We did put up another wall between the far wall and the pit, and on the right side for the cow exit section.
Outside of the parlor. We did enclose the rest of the wall. We still needed access from the outside to that area for larger things that wouldn't make it through the other end. That open end is where the cows will exit the parlor and return to the living quarters. We put up tin on the outside to match the rest of the barn. The milkhouse got vinyl siding.
Inside the milkhouse. Plumbing cannot go inside the walls since they will freeze and access would be nearly impossible if need be. We put in a closet so the waterworks (pressure tank and heater) wouldn't be just sitting out in the open.
More milkhouse.
Inside the parlor with the milkers in place!
Both sides from up-to where the cows will be.
Parlor looking to the entry end of the pit. Ready to go. There are sliding doors at the opposite end of each side for the cows to exit.
It's been a long and hard road. We're looking for those ready-to-milk cows now to run through it. We have ten heifers that will be coming in in late January and early February.
