Selected Parameters Affecting the Electricity Consumption of Automatic Milking Systems

Abstract

The paper presented is aimed at the determination of electricity consumption at selected dairy farms during milking employing automatic milking systems (AMS). The research was focused on the determination of electricity consumption during the performance of essential activities that are related to the AMS utilization, i.e., electricity consumption by a single AMS unit per day, by a single assembly compressor per day, by a single AMS unit and a single assembly compressor per day, per milking, and per 1 litre of milk. Measurements were conducted at eight dairy farms in Central Europe that house dairy cows of the black-spotted Holstein cattle breed. The cattle groups assessed comprised 95 to 105 animals subjected to milking over the entire observed period. On the basis of the measurements conducted, it was observed that the average amount of energy consumed per 1 litre of milked milk was 0.0232 kWh over the entire observed period. Regarding the essential activities, the results obtained indicate that the energy consumption throughout the year is relatively balanced, despite the fact that it is affected by a wide range of factors, including chiefly the herd management, as well as overall organization of entire farm, milk yield, health status of cattle, current climatic conditions, fodder quality, etc.