6X works on small farms, too

It doesn’t take much extra time or labor to milk the early-lactation cows 6X per day at Lueking Dairy Farm, a 60-cow dairy in Centralia, Ill. In fact, it takes one person an extra two or three minutes per milking to push up the 6X cows, says Doug Lueking. That’s a small price to pay for the extra 5 percent to 10 percent more milk per cow they see during lactation, he adds.

The timeline at below shows where they fit in the three extra milkings:

• 6 a.m. – Milk 6X cows first.
• 8 a.m. – Rest of herd done milking, milk 6X cows again.
• 2 p.m. – Milk 6X cows first.
• 4 p.m. – Rest of herd done milking, milk 6X cows again.
• 10 p.m. – Milk 6X cows first.
• 12 a.m. – Rest of herd done milking, milk 6X cows again.

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