Objectives |
Methodology and study materials |
Part 1 (subpackage 1) of the study will use 15-20 herds in each of 3 different countries (England, The Netherlands and Denmark), also including automated milking systems from up to three different companies. Country, type of animals, machine, production etc will be variables to be accounted for in the study. Each herd will be expected to have 45-120 cows varying between the countries, allowing up to 1000 cows to be studied in each country. Herds to be used will be those in the process of installing automated milking systems and which allow 6 months of study while still milking conventionally and at least one year of use of the automated system. The herds will be required to use standardised health recording schemes although the methods of recording may vary according to local demands. The data will be retrieved from herds by regular submission of paper or computer records. There will be initial training in the data recording systems and periodic visits for quality control. Partners 8, 9 and 10 will provide access to the farms, optimise data systems on farms and assist in initial training. Partners 1, 3 and 4, assisted by a subcontractor in The Netherlands, will carry out the local visits. Partner 4 will be responsible for collation of all data, overall supervision, data analyses and production of reports. Communication will mostly involve electronic submission of data and findings although periodic meetings to exchange and solve problems will be required.
Data will be collected on all infections, disease and conditions likely to affect milk quality, production, attendance at the automated milking system and involve special staff time. These will include all clinical conditions and application of objective measures on:
| Udder health | - milk somatic cell count, incidence of clinical mastitis, treatment use, veterinary attention |
| Metabolic condition | - indicators for ketosis |
| Lameness | - use Partner 1 protocol for locomotion and claw score |
| Body condition | - use standard protocol |
| Fertility | - calving interval, number of inseminations, days open |
| Milk production | - 305-day production, length of dry period, fat and protein composition, milk quality |
| Vet. assistance | - records of veterinary input and medicines used. |
The management and staff inputs into animal husbandry and health management will be calculated. Similarly for costs on preventive treatments e.g. teat disinfectants, udder preparation costs, insecticides etc.
Other variables likely to affect health e.g. housing type, feeding and grazing strategy, will be recorded using a standard protocol from Partner 4.
After consideration of local data systems including compatibility between the computing and databases of the various automated milking systems a main database using either a proprietary animal health system e.g. DAISY, or a convention databases/spreadsheet systems will be employed. The key factors will be compatibility and ease of use.
The basic programme of work on disease will be to recruit farms, compare/contrast and define items to be recorded and description of severity, measures of outcome, persistence and other factors suggested by participating farmers to be of practical interest. This will take up to 4 months. Partner 4, assisted by Partners 1 and 3 will develop the exact systems to be used in the first 4 months of the project. The timetable of farms starting on the data collection will be determined by the rate of installation of machines by Partners 8,9, and 10 but ideally should be spread over 4 months. Data collection will last for 24 months.
Part 2 (subpackage 2) of the study will focus on effects of automatic milking on teat end condition and udder health risks. First, a literature survey of problems in teat condition likely to occur with automatic milking, the known prevalence and incidence with conventional milking and possible preventive measures will be completed. Key subjects will include:
A sub sample of the herds in the Netherlands and the UK will be monitored for teat condition with Partner 4 and Partner 1 carrying out study visits in their own countries. The determination of teat condition will use a combination of descriptive scoring systems already published by Partner 4 and a scoring system from Partner 1. The observations will be made over four months of conventional milking and the first four months of automated milking. If problems are discovered then up to three months can be given to investigating the effects of changing milking conditions by adopting parameters from other systems showing no or fewer problems. It is likely that some good systems will be found because of the wide variety of systems, methods of husbandry and variations in cows to be recruited.
In a separate study (subpackage 3), Partner 1 will also evaluate the short-term effects, using ultrasound, of machine-on time and milking interval on teat condition.
Deliverables |
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© Animal Sciences Group -
Wageningen UR. Last update:
20-02-2008 10:03. |
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