Just for comparison, I once visited quite a number of milking operations in Israel.
First, Israel asserts to have the most modern, most efficient, most productive milking industry in the world. They make the assertion - not I - nor was I in any position to evaluate the statistics given me at the time.
Their 'typical' dairy operation has about 250 producing cows. The cows are milked three times a day. That's every day - the cows can't take a day off! Being even an hour late causes the animals considerable distress.
While there are some 'carousels,' the preferred arrangement is two parallel lines, with a work deck between them.
Controls are a bit interesting. At each station, one can direct the milk from that particular cow to a holding area. For example, milk from sick cows is dumped, and milk from nursing cows is set aside for the calves.
