Short communication: Effects of pulsation type (alternate and simultaneous) on mechanical milking of dairy goats (II)—Effect of milk pipeline height on the milking efficiency and status of teat-end in Murciano-Granadina goats

Effect of the pulsation type (alternate or simultaneous) on milk yield and health status of the mammary gland of Murciano-Granadina goats

“…As observed in short-term experiments carried out by this research group (Romero et al, 2017), the use of a different type of pulsation, SP or AP, did not affect results of the variables related to milking efficiency (machine milk, hand-stripping milk, residual milk, average milk flow, maximum milk flow, and milking duration) and teat end status. The absence of differences in milking duration and average vacuum level in the short milk tube between both types of pulsation agree with results observed in the teat end condition variables.…”

“…Thus, similar time of exposure of the teat end to a similar level of vacuum led to a similar teat end congestion or edema after milking; this has also been observed in other works carried out with dairy cows (Hamann et al, 1994) and sheep (Alejandro et al, 2014). On the other hand, as observed in high line milking installations (Romero et al, 2017), the use of SP led to higher vacuum fluctuations than AP. The explanation of this phenomenon is that, during SP, the simultaneous occurrence of the milking phase of both teat cups in the milking unit can collapse the short milk tube and claw and ease the occurrence of duct blocking, which causes vacuum fluctuations (Osterås and Lund, 1980;Díaz et al, 2004;Ambord and Bruckmaier, 2010).…”

“…Group 1 Romero et al (2017) was that more long-term studies with complete lactation periods were needed to determine how AP and SP affect production and milk composition. In the present study, the use of SP or AP did not result in differences in milk production or milk composition.…”

“…Those authors concluded that the use of AP could offer some advantages compared with SP in conditions of high milk flow or when milk flow can occupy the entire section of the short milk tube, as in milking with high vacuum level. This research group performed another study (Romero et al, 2017) on Murciano-Granadina goats using AP and SP in short-term experiments at high and low milk pipeline heights. Their findings showed that AP and SP similarly affected the milk yield and fractioning and milking duration and teat end condition when both pulsations were studied in both high and low pipeline heights.…”

“…Taking into account the previous results in the shorttime research (Romero et al, 2017), this experiment was designed to study how AP and SP affect milk yield, milk composition, and teat end condition of Murciano-Granadina goats during a complete lactation period. In addition, we tested whether the higher vacuum fluctuations obtained in high line with SP can affect the mammary gland health status compared with AP.…”