Effect of teatcup removal settings on milking efficiency and milk quality in a pasture-based automatic milking system

Abstract

In automatic milking systems (AMS), it is important to maximize the amount of milk harvested per day to increase profitability. One strategy to achieve this goal is to reduce the time it takes to milk each cow. Several studies in conventional milking systems have shown that milking time can be reduced by increasing the milk flow rate at which the teatcup is removed. One study analyzed the effect of increasing the milk flow switch point on milking time in a confinement AMS. No research has been conducted on teatcup removal settings in pasture-based automatic milking systems. Furthermore, not all AMS remove the teatcups based on absolute milk flow rate (kg/min); hence, it is important to study alternative strategies. The aim of this experiment was to measure the effect of 3 novel teatcup removal strategies on box time (time in the AMS), milking time, somatic cell count (SCC), and milk production rate of cows milked in a pasture-based automatic milking system. Each teatcup removal strategy in this study was applied for a period of 1 wk to 1 of 3 groups of cows and then switched to the following group until cows had transitioned through all treatments. The teatcup removal strategies consisted of removing the teatcup when the quarter flow rate fell below 20% of the quarter rolling average milk flow rate (TRS20), when quarter milk flow rate was below 30% of the rolling average milk flow rate (TRS30), and when quarter milk flow rate dropped below 50% of the rolling average milk flow rate (TRS50). A limit prevented teatcup removal if the calculated milk flow rate for teatcup removal was above 0.5 kg/min. This limit was in place for all treatments; however, it only affected the TRS50 treatment. The TRS30 strategy had 9-s shorter milking time and 11-s shorter box time than the TRS20 removal strategy. The TRS50 strategy had 8-s shorter milking time and 9-s shorter box time than the TRS20 teatcup removal strategy. There was no significant difference in milking time or box time between the TRS30 and TRS50 teatcup removal strategies, probably due to the large variability in milk flow rate at teatcup removal. The TRS20 and TRS30 strategies did not differ in SCC or milk production rate. The 0.5 kg/min limit, which affected roughly 25% of milkings in the TRS50 treatment, may have distorted the effect that this setting had on milk time, box time, milk production rate, or SCC. The difference in box time for the TRS30 and TRS50 strategies could allow for more than 3 extra milkings per day.

Identifying changes in the technical parameters of milking rubber under industrial conditions to elucidate their effect on the milking process

“…However, as practice shows [8,9], the main issue related to executing the process of extracting milk from the udder is the negative effect of milking machines on the mammary gland of the animal. In this regard, there is a question about the possibility and necessity of milk production at dairy farms, the technical equipment of which is one of the most important tasks.…”

A randomized trial to study the effect of automatic cluster remover settings on milking performance, teat condition, and udder health

“…In addition, Rasmussen (1993) documented improved teat tissue conditions in cows that were milked with an increased ACR setting. These initial studies were followed by work from researchers around the globe investigating different ACR settings in conventional milking systems (Stewart et al, 2002;Magliaro and Kensinger, 2005), pasture-based systems (Clarke et al, 2004;Jago et al, 2010;Burke and Jago, 2011;Edwards et al, 2013a,b), confinement (Ferneborg et al, 2016(Ferneborg et al, , 2019Krawczel et al, 2017), and pasture-based (Silva Boloña et al, 2019) automatic milking systems. The majority of these studies supported the results of the earlier works.…”

Improving parlor efficiency in block calving pasture-based dairy systems through the application of a fixed milking time determined by daily milk yield and milking frequency

“…Considerable research effort has been spent exploring ways to improve milk harvesting efficiency, one of which is the choice of end-of-milking criteria for individual cows. The majority of the research into end-of-milking criteria has used milk flow rate (kg/min) to determine when automatic cluster removers (ACR) are activated (Rasmussen, 1993;Stewart et al, 2002;Magliaro and Kensinger, 2005;Burke and Jago, 2011;Edwards et al, 2013a;Edwards et al, 2013b;Silva Boloña et al, 2019), although some studies have used a time-based approach (Clarke et al, 2004;Jago et al, 2010a,b). Most research has concluded that these strategies can reduce cow milking duration without compromising milk yield or udder health, even for cows with a high SCC (Clarke et al, 2008).…”