Mathematical Model for Optimal Arrangement of Milking Parlor

Milking is a key operation on dairy farms. The capacity and function of milking parlor influences production conditions (time of operations, needs of labor, total costs), so actually it affects the efficiency of the whole dairy farm. This paper presents a structure and principal parts of mathematical model which was created with the aim to enable to farmers and designers to choose suitable type of milking parlor for specific farm conditions. Three principal questions important for optimization of milking parlor are: technical parameters, indicators of labor productivity and economic criteria. The model structure was created with the aim to find the answer to all of them. The model includes in calculation main parameters of typical arrangements of milking parlors used in modern dairy farms. The inputs are primarily parameters of a dairy farm like a capacity, number of milking per day, available time for milking process in the farm and others. There is a proposed number of milking stalls with the level of automation, number of operators, costs of labor, etc. The optimization is based on the evaluation of all partial results, which are compared in terms of needs of time, labor and specific costs, calculated successively for different proposed milking parlors. This model was verified mainly with some results from measurements in the Czech large scale farms with different technical levels of milking parlors. It can be easily adapted to changed conditions, due to new generations of milking parlors with more modern equipment and facilities or for different production and economic situation.