Milking Parlours and Milking Equipment
Pearson parlours designed around your shed, your herd and your routine — then supplied, installed and serviced by the same engineers, anywhere in Scotland.
Three Ways to Milk, One Team Behind Them
A parlour is a twenty-year decision, and most of what makes it a good one is settled before the steelwork arrives — how many cows go through in a milking, where the cows stand, where the plant sits, and who you ring when something stops at five in the morning.
McCaskie supply conventional parlours from Pearson, and from Fullwood both the Merlin robot and the Merlin Meridian rotary. Those are the two makes our engineers know inside out, and we do not take on others — if you run a different make we would rather tell you now than send somebody to learn on your farm.
We do not build the machines. We design the system they go into, around your building, supply it, install it, commission it and look after it afterwards — and the engineer who fits it is the engineer who comes back to it.
Fullwood Merlin Milking Robots
We sell, install, commission and service Fullwood robots across Scotland, and have done for more than ten years.
The robots in that photograph are ours — McCaskie put them in and McCaskie still service them. The newest in the line is the Merlin 2+: a quiet electric arm, an open stainless-steel box you can see into and work on, and twin entry and exit so cows keep moving instead of queueing.
If there is already a Merlin in your shed, nothing about that changes. The engineers who commission the 2+ are the same ones who look after the Merlins already milking on Scottish farms, whichever model they are, with the same parts and the same out-of-hours number. A new machine coming out does not move anybody down the list.
Milking in groups rather than letting cows come when they like? That is the Merlin Meridian, the Fullwood rotary, and it comes from the same dealership and the same engineers. Ask and we will talk you through which of the two suits the herd you actually have.
And because Scotland has one Fullwood dealer, the people who quote it are the people who install it, commission it and answer the phone at five in the morning when it stops. There is nobody to pass you on to, which is the point.
From First Visit to First Milking
Concept
An engineer comes out and looks at the building you have, the herd you milk and the time you want milking to take. That conversation decides the size and the shape of the parlour, not a page in a catalogue.
Blueprint
A layout drawn for your shed: stalls, pit, plant room, cow flow in and out, water, power and drainage — against the building that is actually there, including the awkward corner of it.
Installation
Our own engineers fit it. Most parlours go into working buildings, around milkings, and we will tell you straight if a stage needs a quiet window.
Testing
Vacuum, pulsation and wash are set and proved before the plant milks a full herd, and the routine is walked through with whoever does the milking.
Servicing
Planned maintenance and parts from the same team afterwards. Not a handover to somebody else.
Parts, Servicing and Breakdowns
Milking does not wait, so neither do we. Engineers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Parts and servicing come from McCaskie Engineering direct. The country stores can pass a message on, but it is an engineer who deals with the farm, and it is the same small team every time.
Ring Stirling on 01786 474 481 or email service@mccaskie.co.uk. Outside business hours the call goes through to the technician on call. How call-out works.
The Rest of the Milking Job
A parlour is one part of what goes into a milking shed, and the same engineers fit the rest of it.
Milk cooling
Tanks and cooling plant sized to the milking, and serviced on the same visits. Milk cooling
Teat preparation
Brush systems that clean, stimulate and dry before the cluster goes on. Teat preparation
Dairy hygiene
Teat care, plant cleaning and tank wash — the Downland range and the names you already ask for, supplied alongside the plant we fit. Dairy hygiene
Shed ventilation
Air over the cows standing in the collecting yard and the cubicles they go back to. Ventilation
Questions We Are Asked Most
Do you install new milking parlours?
Yes. We design the parlour around your building, then supply it, install it and service it — conventional parlours from Pearson, anywhere in Scotland, from the engineering base at Springkerse in Stirling.
Which makes of milking system do you service?
Two: Fullwood robots and Pearson conventional parlours, and no others. Everything else we supply — cooling, teat preparation, ventilation, feeding — we service ourselves whatever the brand.
Can you work on the parlour I already have?
If it is a Pearson, yes — servicing, parts and planned maintenance. If it is another make we will say so rather than take the job on. Either way, ring and ask; it is a short conversation.
What happens first if I am thinking about a new parlour?
An engineer comes to the farm and looks at the building, the herd and how long you want milking to take. Nothing is quoted off a plan until somebody has stood in the shed.
What if the parlour stops during milking?
Ring Stirling on 01786 474 481. Engineers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and outside business hours the call is forwarded to the technician on call.
Do you fit rotary parlours?
Yes — the Merlin Meridian, Fullwood's rotary, for herds that milk in groups. It comes through the same Scottish dealership as the Merlin robot and is installed and serviced by the same engineers.
I already milk with a Merlin. Do you still look after it?
Yes, and that does not change when a new model comes out. McCaskie service the Merlins already working on Scottish farms whatever the model, from the same engineering base at Springkerse, with the same parts and the same out-of-hours number.
Should I be looking at a robot instead?
The Fullwood Merlin 2+ is the flagship of this department and McCaskie is the leading Fullwood dealer in Scotland, so we are well placed to tell you — including when the answer is no. A robot changes the labour, the cow flow and often the building, and a well-planned conventional parlour is still the right answer on plenty of Scottish farms. Come and look at both.
Talk to the Engineering Team
McCaskie Engineering — 01786 474 481 · service@mccaskie.co.uk
4 Munro Road, Springkerse Industrial Estate, Stirling FK7 7UU · Monday–Friday 8am–5pm, and on call outside those hours.