Fifteenth deliverable out

The fifteenth deliverable of the project is one of the deliverables from work package 8 and covers 'Health of dairy cows milked by an automatic milking system - Effects of milking interval on teat condition and milking performance'. This deliverable (D22) is a report containing the results of an experiment aimed to determine the effects of milking intervals of 4, 8 and 12 hours on the short-term effects of teat condition measured under controlled conditions to help assess risks from short milking intervals or higher milking frequencies. Milking with shorter intervals leaves less time for teat tissue to recover and may lead to incomplete recovery of teats. This could lead to an accumulation of teat trauma. It suggests that a measurable risk may occur when using an AM system, if milking intervals are short. Results indicate that:

• milk yield increased 16% per day when milking frequency was above three times a day,
• the efficiency of milk harvesting decreased with increasing milking frequency,
• short milking intervals are insufficient to allow recovery of teat tissue between milkings or are a result of less filling of the teat cistern with milk,
• milk composition, milk fat, protein, lactose and cell count, at different milking intervals was not different, and
• front teats appeared to have a larger increase in overall teat width because of milking than rear teats.

In this experiment whole udder take-off was practised. Most of the AM systems use quarter take off, which may reduce the effects on teat condition because of a shorter low flow period for individual quarters at the end of milking. It is concluded that the cause and effect of changes in teat dimensions after milking still require further investigation.

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