I don't know how you can call that "amazing". Very FEW of those cows you saw on that turntable will make 3 lactations. They're probably getting over 30,000 lbs a year out of them, burning them out. They'll never see a blade of grass.
You take their cow at 2 lactations of 30000 lbs, you get 1 heifer calf to replace her and one bull calf they'll likely knock in the head with a hammer, and 60000 lbs milk. One heifer calf per cow can't keep them in cows and they need to keep buying up small herds to keep the free-stall barn full. They're getting feed from all over - hundreds or thousands of miles and mostly on pivots drawing down the watertable. They don't know what to do with the manure. They're borrowed to the hilt and beyond with their million dollar parlor and multi-million dollar free-stall barns. Of course, they're probably using illegal labor because they can't pay more'n $10 an hour.
We had 60 cows and quit milking in 1996. When we quit, we were running a 21000ish lactation. Our oldest cow was on her 12th lactation and we averaged 6 or 7.
You take our cow at 6 lactations and 21000, you get 3 heifer calves to replace her, 3 bull calves for meat production, and 126000 lbs of milk. All our feed was produced within 5 miles of the farm (most right at the farm and some produced on rented property in the area). All the manure was spread on site. Our debt was high, but far less than a million dollars. We hired local kids whenever we needed help, but did most of the work on our own.
I just don't get how we were too inefficient to survive, but they can keep going.
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