Abstract: A facility for use in handling dairy animals is provided which includes a service alley which is located below a platform on which the cow or other dairy animal stands during milking. A floor is located adjacent the platform and the service alley and defines an operator area where the herdsman can tend the milking equipment to be attached to the animal. Advantageously, the bulk of the electronic equipment and other milking apparatus is located in the service alley and thus environmentally isolated from the exposed area where the cows are milked. Parallel rows of platforms and service alleys are preferably provided, separated by a common operator area, and the service alleys may be joined to a common equipment room housing milk receivers, coolers, and the like. The service alley is preferably supplied with ventilation through subterranean ducts which provides air at moderated temperatures.

Abstract: A rapid exit parlor system for milking cows, which includes a parlor frame mounted on a concrete floor having a centrally oriented milking pit, which frame includes at least one entry for receiving cattle in single file, multiple entry panels mounted on rotatable entry panel posts provided in spaced relationship in the parlor frame for guiding the cows into individual stall-like spaces or milking locations for milking purposes and a system of multiple, rapid egress roll gates for releasing the cows from the milking locations in concert. The system of roll gates terminates one end of the milking locations and a curved waste-collecting trough defines the opposite end of the milking locations. The Z-shaped roll gates are designed to rotate in concert when each milking operation is completed, to facilitate rapid egress of the cows from the milking locations and the roll gates are then rotatably repositioned for entry of additional cows into the rapid exit parlor system.