Robotic milking and milk quality: effects on the cheese-making properties of milk

Abstract

Robotic milking systems (RMS) modify dairy herd management and therefore some aspects of production. The main results from scientific literature on RMS and cheese-making properties have been reported. The decrease in fat content, as a consequence of the increased milking frequency, is generally confirmed. The lack of specific studies on creaming properties of milk from robotic milking experiences and with different milking frequencies has been highlighted. Indications on clotting features were obtained with a different milking frequency in a traditional milking parlour; these results showed an improvement in the casein index of milk from three daily milkings. A reduction of casein exposure to the plasminogen-plasmin complex activity in the mammary gland between two consecutive milkings seems to explain this result. The effect of RMS on milk quality for cheese-making purposes was first evaluated in a two-year monitoring study in a herd representative of Po Valley dairy farms. Preliminary results from laboratory tests on bulk milk samples indicate that milk from RMS seems suitable for cheese-making processes.

Automatic milking systems in the Protected Designation of Origin Montasio cheese production chain: Effects on milk and cheese quality

“…The existence of a relationship between plasmin activity and milking frequency can be discerned from the works of Stelwagen et al (1994) and Sorensen et al (2001): by changing from 1 to 2 and from 2 to 3 milkings per day, the time available for plasminogen to be converted to plasmin was reduced. These results suggest that AMS could improve milk casein content through increased milking frequency (Abeni et al, 2003(Abeni et al, , 2008.…”

“…If milk is in the mammary gland for less time, then there is less time for plasmin to degrade casein. Different authors hypothesized that milking 3 times per day would increase milk quality because of the decreased time for plasmin to degrade casein in the udder at 38.5°C (Abeni et al, 2003). Table 6 reports the mean values (±SD) of the percentage ratio of the single casein fractions in vat milk samples from AMS and from CMP.…”

“…In dairy cattle breeding, there is increasing worldwide interest in the adoption of automatic milking systems (AMS), mainly because these systems represent an opportunity to relieve the farmer from the labor-intensive routine of the conventional milking parlor (CMP; Abeni et al, 2003). Indeed, in AMS, human involvement is not required during milking and the machine prepares the cow for milking independently according to settings that are preprogrammed (Salovou et al, 2005).…”

“…Moreover, it is important to consider that each milk quality feature plays a different role when the end use is taken into account. So, if the milk is used in cheese production, it is necessary to better understand the real effect of AMS on features that may affect the cheesemaking process (Abeni et al, 2003). It is known that changes in the composition of milk components can influence the quality and yield of cheese (Sapru et al, 1997).…”

Comparison between automatic and conventional milking systems for milk coagulation properties and fatty acid composition in commercial dairy herds

“…Although several researches have been focussed on the effect of AMS or milking frequency on milk chemical composition and SCC, very limited information is available on the effect of AMS on milk technological traits. Abeni et al (2003) and Innocente and Biasutti (2013) did not find any significant differences for technological properties between milk derived from AMS and CMP. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of CMP and AMS on MCP and FA composition, as predicted by MIRS, in Holstein-Friesian (HF) dairy cows.…”