Cow traffic in relation to social rank and motivation of cows in an automatic milking system with control gates and an open waiting area

Melin, Martin; Hermans, G.G.N.; Pettersson, G.; Wiktorsson, H.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2005.06.013

Cited by 43 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…For a large indoor herd of 500 cows, Harms and Wendl (2010) suggested a modular layout, comprising four groups of 125 cows each, milked by two robots; each group split based on individual cow factors such as parity, stage of lactation, milk yield, body condition and social rank, in order to maximize robot utilization efficiency. Smaller groups would minimize the time spent waiting in the pre-milking area, especially for animals with low social ranking within the herd, as they spend significantly longer waiting for access to the milking robot (Melin et al, 2006;Halachmi, 2009). The waiting times for lower ranked cows are likely to be exacerbated in large herd pasture-based AMS, as cows cannot be split into small groups to mitigate the increased competition from having more cows in the waiting yard.…”

Section: Animal Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Milking robot utilization, a successful precision livestock farming evolution

John

Clark

Freeman

et al. 2016

animal

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Automatic milking systems (AMS), one of the earliest precision livestock farming developments, have revolutionized dairy farming around the world. While robots control the milking process, there have also been numerous changes to how the whole farm system is managed. Milking is no longer performed in defined sessions; rather, the cow can now choose when to be milked in AMS, allowing milking to be distributed throughout a 24 h period. Despite this ability, there has been little attention given to milking robot utilization across 24 h. In order to formulate relevant research questions and improve farm AMS management there is a need to determine the current knowledge gaps regarding the distribution of robot utilization. Feed, animal and management factors and their interplay on levels of milking robot utilization across 24 h for both indoor and pasture-based systems are here reviewed. The impact of the timing, type and quantity of feed offered and their interaction with the distance of feed from the parlour; herd social dynamics, climate and various other management factors on robot utilization through 24 h are provided. This novel review draws together both the opportunities and challenges that exist for farm management to use these factors to improved system efficiency and those that exist for further research.Keywords: automatic milking system, feeding behaviour, robot idle time, grazing, PLF (precision livestock farming) ImplicationsMilking robots have revolutionized the dairy industry with farmers achieving high levels of robot utilization obtaining greater returns on asset. The first installations were typically associated with 'indoor' systems and nearby grazing fields. Nowadays there is an increasing interest regarding the integration of robots into larger scale pasture-based dairy systems. This review explores the published literature on both 'indoor' and 'pasture-based' dairy systems in relation to milking robot utilization. IntroductionRobotic milking systems have revolutionized the dairy industry. The first dairy cow was milked, more or less without traditional human involvement, in 1986 with a robotic milking box at the experimental farm de Waiboerhoeve, Lelystad, the Netherlands by Gascoigne Melotte, following the US Patent 4010714A (Notsuki and Ueno, 1977). A system from the company Prolion was installed on the experimental farm IMAG-DLO Duiven, the Netherlands, in 1990 and on a commercial dairy in 1992. More institutes and companies became active in the development of robotic milking systems in the nineties as described by Kuipers and Rossing (1996). Since that time until 2011, automatic milking systems (AMS) have been installed on over 10 000 farms worldwide (de Koning, 2011). These installations are predominantly for 'indoor' systems where cows are generally 'housed' in barns and offered a partial mixed ration (PMR) in the feeding alley and grain-based concentrate supplement either in the milking unit or in a nearby concentrate self-feeder. While there have been numerous AMS installations in indoo...

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Section: Animal Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Milking robot utilization, a successful precision livestock farming evolution

John

Clark

Freeman

et al. 2016

animal

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“…Influence of provision of concentrate at milking on voluntary cow traffic in a pasture-based automatic milking system V. E. Scott ,* 1 P. C. Thomson , † K. L. Kerrisk ,* and S. C. Garcia * Similarly in AMS, social order can influence access to the robotic milking unit, where cows of lower social status have been shown to wait longer in front of the robotic milking unit (Lexer et al, 2009) and spend more time in the waiting area (Melin et al, 2006) than cows of higher social status. Long premilking waiting times may negatively affect cow time budgets and production and, in extreme cases, also create welfare concerns, such as the development of lameness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of provision of concentrate at milking on voluntary cow traffic in a pasture-based automatic milking system

Scott¹,

Thomson²,

Kerrisk³

et al. 2014

Journal of Dairy Science

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The success of an automatic milking system is generally reliant upon the voluntary movement of cows around the farm system and the correct management of incentives to achieve a targeted level of cow traffic. The present study investigated the effect of providing a small feed reward as an incentive at milking on the premilking voluntary waiting time of cows milked on a prototype robotic rotary in an Australian pasture-based dairy. The 2 treatments were "feed on" (concentrate offered at milking) and "feed off" (no concentrate offered at milking), with data from a single herd of 168 lactating dairy cows collected over 16d. A survival analysis with time-varying covariates was used to model the voluntary waiting times of cows in the premilking yard. The median time cows spent waiting before milking was 129 min and after 4h just over 70% of the cows had exited the yard (volunteered for milking). When feed was provided, cows were faster to exit the premilking yard (shorter time spent waiting) and waited just over half the time (0.53×) they did during the "feed off" treatment. Heifers exited the premilking yard more rapidly than cows in later lactations, with older cows spending at least 1.40 times longer in the yard before milking. Average daily milk yield along with stage of lactation and fetching cows from the paddock also influenced cow traffic in the premilking yard. As the number of cows in the premilking yard increased, voluntary waiting time also increased. At a queue length of 20 or more cows, the negative effect on waiting time of an additional cow entering the yard was less than that when fewer than 20 cows were present. Results demonstrated that feeding a small reward on the robotic rotary platform can reduce the time cows spend in the premilking yard, leading to a potential reduction in the risk of congestion at the dairy, particularly during times of high demand. Minimizing congestion will likely benefit multiple aspects of the voluntary milking operation, including a potential improvement in robot utilization, a reduction in unnecessary time spent off pasture by cows in the milking herd, promoting cow welfare through reducing the risk of lameness, and enhancing productivity. Targeting strategies to minimize queue length to less than the threshold length, which in this study was 20 cows, could result in reduced time spent in the premilking yard.

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“…Conforme Wiktorsson e Sørensen (2004), os rebanhos consistem de vacas com baixos e altos VD no ranking social e isso influencia os padrões de ordenha, dependendo da posição social. Segundo Melin et al (2006), a motivação para a alimentação pode desencadear efeitos na posição social. Danielsson (2012) reportou que as vacas com dominância mais alta tiveram diferença significativa na forma da curva de lactação, quando comparadas às de baixa dominância, explicada por um intervalo de ordenha mais curto, ou seja, foram ordenhadas mais vezes por dia.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…Os autores acima citados relataram que vacas com baixa dominância passaram mais tempo de espera em frente à EO. De fato, Melin et al (2006) relataram que vacas de baixa posição social passaram mais tempo na sala de espera e menos tempo na área de descanso do que vacas de alta posição social.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Comportamento de vacas da raça Holandesa em ordenha robotizada (Behaviour of Holstein cows in robotic milking)

Córdova

Cardozo²,

Alessio

et al. 2020

Arq. Bras. Med. Vet. Zootec.

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 RESUMOO objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o comportamento ingestivo de concentrado e de ordenha de vacas em lactação em sistema de ordenha robotizada (SOR) conforme a paridade. O experimento foi realizado de março a junho de 2014, em Castro, PR, com vacas da raça Holandesa, confinadas em free stall, ordenhadas automaticamente e classificadas de acordo com a ordem de parto (1, 2 e +3 partos). Os dados foram extraídos do software de gerenciamento, sendo consideradas as atividades de um dia por mês (24h), por quatro meses, no dia seguinte após a realização do controle leiteiro oficial. Os dados foram analisados por técnicas de análise multivariada (análise fatorial, canônica e de agrupamento), utilizando-se o pacote computacional SAS. O comportamento ingestivo de concentrado influenciou toda a atividade das vacas no SOR, sendo fundamental para o desempenho dos animais nesse sistema. A ordem de parto não influenciou o comportamento na ordenha, somente o comportamento ingestivo, devido à dominância social das vacas multíparas. As vacas mais produtivas apresentaram um comportamento ingestivo mais agressivo. Conclui-se que a ordem de parto influencia o comportamento ingestivo de concentrado, porém não interfere no comportamento de ordenha de vacas com maior paridade. No SOR, primíparas devem ser manejadas em grupo específico.Palavras-chave: vacas em lactação, estação de ordenha, produção de leite, sistema voluntário de ordenha ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to assess the ingestive behavior of concentrate and milking of dairy cows in automatic milking system (AMS) according to parity. The experiment was conducted from March to June 2014, in Castro, PR, with Holstein cows housed in a free stall, milked automatically, and classified according to the lactation order (1, 2 and +3 lactations). Data were extracted from the management software, considering the activities of one day a month (24 hours) for four months, the day after the official milk production control. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis (factorial analysis, canonical and cluster), using the statistical package SAS. The ingestive behavior of concentrate influenced the entire activity of the cows in the AMS, being a fundamental factor in the performance of animals in this system. Parity did not influence the milking behavior, only the ingestive behavior, due to the social dominance of multiparous cows. High-yielding cows had a more aggressive ingestive behavior. It was concluded that parity influenced the ingestive behavior of concentrate, but does not interfere in milking behavior in cows with higher parity. In the AMS, primiparous should be managed in a specific group.

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Cow traffic in relation to social rank and motivation of cows in an automatic milking system with control gates and an open waiting area

Cited by 43 publications

References 13 publications

Review: Milking robot utilization, a successful precision livestock farming evolution

Review: Milking robot utilization, a successful precision livestock farming evolution

Influence of provision of concentrate at milking on voluntary cow traffic in a pasture-based automatic milking system

Comportamento de vacas da raça Holandesa em ordenha robotizada (Behaviour of Holstein cows in robotic milking)

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