Overview

This tutorial provides supplementary guidance for performing a milk recording direct from an electronic parlour. The key to a successful milk recording is preparation.  If you have kept your records up-to-date within the program, the milk recording process will be straightforward.   Data entry should closely follow events for each cow, i.e. Calving - Bulling/Service - PD - Drying Off.  If you have purchased or sold any cows in-milk, make sure you have entered this data.  Please refer to the other tutorials in this series for help on completing these data entry tasks.

The parlour link needs to be setup correctly via the Setup | Milk Recording window.   It is best to telephone Orchid Support for advice on setting up your specific parlour. You will need to identify the folder on your computer where the special link file is stored.  This file is specific for a parlour manufacturer and handles the communication between the 1-Stop program and the parlour software. 

Important Points to Remember for Milk Recording

• Make sure your cow records are up-to-date within the program
• Back up all computers (parlour, office) before starting a recording
• Do not access the electronic parlour software while milking is in progress
• Destroy the previous recording sheet and pot labels in the event of having to restart a recording.  This is done because the cow brand numbers could be in a different order when restarting, and consequently the sequence number would be different to that shown on the previous recording sheet.

Factored Milk Recording

If you wish to perform a factored milk recording go into Setup > Milk Recording and click the 1-Stop tab.   The check box for “Factored” needs to be ticked.  The “Number of times cows milked per day” should be set to 2 (please note in the case of deLaval Alpro, ATL and Davlec parlours the times per day should be set to 1 as these parlour types only output a single 24 hour yield value).

Data Transfer between a Parlour Computer and an Office Computer

Where two computers are running the Herd Management program, it is very important to maintain the herd data on both machines in an identical state (synchronised) so that the integrity of the data is always guaranteed. This requires a strict data management system.   In most situations there will be one computer in the parlour and one in the home office (the latter probably with the internet connection).

There are two options for a data management system:

1. Backing up the data to a portable storage medium e.g. floppy disk(s) or larger capacity "Zip" disk and restoring it to the other computer
2. In some situations it may be viable to consider setting up a network connection so that one set of Herd Management data can be shared between the two computers.  This eliminates the requirement to physically transfer data on disk between the machines.  Data integrity is thus more easily maintained

For more information read the tutorial for maintaining data on two computers

The Milk Recording Process

The order of the individual tasks given in the 1-Stop Milk Recording window is controlled by the software and cannot be altered by the user; when each task is completed, it will move from the To Do to the Done list in the window.  

First, open the Perform Milk Recording window from the 1-Stop Milk Recording screen.  This contains the list of recording tasks.  Each task has a button next to it.

1. Click the first button to Check recent events have been entered.  This opens a window that will allow you to check that your herd records are up-to-date.   If not, enter the data into the program.  If you are confident your records are correct, click OK.  Notice how this task now moves to the Done list
   
2. The second step is Connect to parlour and create milk recording sheets.  This is where the list of cows will be retrieved from the electronic parlour via your parlour link.  A sequence number for each cow brand number is allocated
   
3. The third task is to Print the recording sheet, which contains the sequence numbers and brand numbers for the cows.  Make sure your printer is ready
   
4. The fourth task is to Print the sample pot labels

At this point in the procedure, it is time to do the milkings for the recording

5. The milkings for the recording should now be finished.  The fifth task is to extract the milk yields from the parlour.  The yield data will be extracted to the Milk Recording Data window (see below)

6. Task six is to Enter bulk tank totals and mark cows absent.  To mark cows absent, click in the Absence Reason drop-down box for each cow, and select an absence reason from the list; notice how the cow's record changes to the green "Absent" colour. Once you have entered all the data, click the OK button to close the window and proceed to the next step.
   
   If your parlour machine does not have the means of connecting to the internet, you need to pause now and complete the recording on a computer that does have an internet connection.  You need to ensure that this computer has the same data as the parlour machine.  This means following one of the following methods:
   
   - Back up the data from the parlour machine and restore it to the computer that has the internet connection.
   - Where you have a network connection set up, you simply move to the machine that can log on to the internet in order to finalise the recording.
   
   (Note for Factored recordings:
   The preferred approach for an auto-parlour factored recording is to extract the 24 hour yield.  When the yields have been extracted, the next step is to mark off any absent cows. Next enter the bulk tank total(s) and then the milking Times.  For morning collections, the interval between the milkings must be between 720 and 870 minutes.  For afternoon collections, the interval between the milkings must be between 570 and 720 minutes.  When the data entry is complete, click the OK button.  The program will ask if the sampling time is PM.  If this is the first Factored recording, the program will next prompt for the previous sampling time (either an AM or PM time according to your previous response).  The program will prompt whether the bulk tank was empty prior to commencing the recording.  Finally the user will be prompted to confirm whether the cow yields are 24 hours yields.  In the case of an auto-parlour recording, it is preferable that the 24 hour yields are extracted, so answer Yes.  A window will display showing that the data has been validated, ready to Finalise the recording (transmit the data to the HUK/CIS database via the Internet).
   
7. The final stage is to Finalise the Milk Recording.  This is where you connect and transfer your recording data to Holstein UK.  You are first prompted to input your milk recording prices, as shown below:

6. Once you have done this and clicked OK, the Login Details window will display.  Confirm your Herd Prefix and enter your PIN.   Click OK.  Your computer will now dial up your internet service provider and connect with the Holstein UK central computer.  The login and data transfer process may take several minutes.  When the data has been transferred, the program shows a message confirming that the operation was successfully completed.
   
   You can view the recording details by clicking the Data Entry | Milking | Amend Recordings menu at the top of the main program screen.  The Milk Recordings window displays.  You will see the date of the recording at the top left corner of the window.  The yields have been added, but the quality results are absent, of course.  The quality results are returned to Holstein UK from the testing lab usually after 48 hours.  When you click the Update Quality Results button (from the 1-Stop Milk Recording window), your computer will dial up again and retrieve these results.
   
   The diagram below shows the flow of data that will eventually allow you to retrieve your milk quality data from Holstein UK. During the recording process, a Milk Recording Batch Number is allocated, which accompanies both the samples and the yield data.  In this way, the yield and quality data will be correctly linked together;  this illustrates why you should discard the original recording sheet when you restart a recording, i.e. the Batch Number is printed on the recording sheet.

IMPORTANT: Where you have moved to another computer to finalise the recording, and have no network connection, don't forget to restore the data back to the parlour machine (this is an on-going process)