Fine Tuning Milking Parlor Parameters and

Procedures

Ralph GinsbergUdder Health and Milk Quality Specialist

ralph.milk46@gmail.com

The Israeli Dairy Herd 120,000 cows – 795 farms ~90% of cows on DHI All cows milked in milking

parlors or 49 milking robots (30 farms)

80% of cows milked with electronic milk meters

A common database with an integrated data flow system

Quota System Annual volume is divided into monthly

quotas. Economic incentives for for increased

production in “summer” months

Reduced price for excess milk production in “winter” months (November – April)

Quotas can only be traded between milk farmers and under the auspices of the Israel Dairy Board

2015 795

LactationIn lactating animals, regular removal of milk from the mammary gland is critical for continued milk secretion and maintaining milk production.

Lactation number

Factors Affecting Milk Secretion

Climate

Interval between Milkings

Milking frequency (twice or three times a day)

Lactation NumberMilk yield increases (at a decreasing rate) until about the 8th year of age and then decrease at an increasing rate.

Mature cows produce about 25% more milk than first calf heifers .

ClimateOptimal temp. for milk production is 6 to

22°C Humidity 60 to 80% if temp. is below 20°C

Climate

ClimateDue to the harsh summer conditions in Israel, milk production in summer declines to almost 90% of the winter level.

Intensive cooling almost eliminates the summer decline in milk production regardless of the level of production and reduces about half of the summer decline in conception rate.

Cooling cows in summerThe use of cooling methods in dairy farms has become an important tool forincreasing milk production and efficiency.

2014 - 12,083 kg/cow/year 2015 - 11,772 kg/cow/year

August 2015

For three weeks average

temperatures reached 400 C in most parts of the

Country

Milking Interval In most countries 8-16 hours milking

interval is common practice due to the labor situation.

Twelve hour’s interval is the most optimal milking interval with twice daily milking, eight hour’s for three times.

Milk production (kg milk) increases a few percentage points with equal intervals compared to unequal milking intervals.

Interval above 14 h decreases milk secretion >2% per h

Milk secretion starts to decline 10 hours after the previous milking, while udder

pressure is increasing.

Milking Interval Most high yielding cows will not lie down

during the last few hours before milking indicating that cows with high amounts of milk in the udder are exposed to a very high udder pressure which undoubtedly will cause discomfort.

High yielding cows want to be milked more

frequently than twice or three times a day when they have their own choice.

Milking FrequencyFor decades dairy producers believed that milking cows only two times a day was the way it

had to be done.

Average Milk Production 2015 Average - 11,772 kg/cow/year

604 Herds; 107,212 Cows 3 X - 12,054 kg/cow/year

398 Herds; 69,649 Cows 65.9% 2 X - 11,246 kg/cow/year

176 Herds; 37,563 Cows 29.1% Milking Robots

30 Herds; 5,328 Cows 5%

Milking Frequency  A summary of 19 research studies

over more than 70 years indicates that

Regardless of milk yield for twice a day milking, cows milked three times a day will increase daily milk production from 3 to 4 Kg/cow/ day with a 95% confidence level.

The average increase was 3.5 Kg/cow/day.

Milking Frequency

These studies also showed that milk fat and protein percent show a slight decrease as milk production increases, but overall production of components increases because of the extra milk by;

milk fat - 90 gr./cow/day  protein - 82 gr./cow/day

Milking Frequency There is plenty of evidence to prove that

cows milked more frequently than twice-daily have a generally lower incidence of mastitis. Part of the reason is likely due to factors such as the reduced pressure in the udder from more frequent milking and also removal of keratin inside the teat cistern andcanal with any bacteria thatare adhering to it.

There have been many advances and improvements in milking equipment capacity, performance and automation making it possible for cows and milkers to spend less time in the milking parlor.

Milking Frequency.

Milking Frequency

Cows need only three to five hours a day for eating and drinking and between ten to fourteen hours for resting and ruminating.

The remainder of the time is allocated to travelling to and from the parlor.

Maybe the most important benefit of more frequent milking is improved animal welfare and less udder pressure.

Milking Frequency Milking 3X requires an increased level

of feed management to ensure that cows are fed adequately and with enough feed bunk space, in order to maintain proper body condition and prevent health issues (e.g. lameness, mastitis) that canbe affected bythe increasedintensity of production.

Generally three times a day milking increases milk production by up to 25%, but ~2/3 of this increase is due to better feeding and management and ~1/3 is due to decreased udder pressure.

Putting it all together

Three times a day milking also offers an opportunity to more effectively and efficiently utilize milking facilities.

Another potential benefit of milking three times a day is improved udder health and sometimes even reproductive performance.

Putting it all together

Factors that may limit the ability ofcows to respond with higher milk production;

Putting it all together

Poor feed quality

limited feed bunk space

environmental stress

Factors that may limit the ability ofcows to respond with higher milk production continued;

Putting it all together

excessive wait time in holding pens

long travel distances to and from the milking parlor

labor unwilling to milk at undesirable times of the day.

Putting it all together Producers considering increased

milking frequency must evaluate whether the increased revenue from milk and components is sufficient to cover the increased labor, feed and utility costs.

Many producers who have looked closely at the economics of their operations, have switched to three times a day milking milking to increase their efficiency and profitability.

Putting it all together

In 1995 Israeli researchers observed higher production in cows milked six times a day relative to three times a day for the first 42 days of lactation.

Cows milked six times a day continued to yield more milk even after milking frequency returned to three times a day

Increasing milk production by increasing milking frequency to four times a day.

Further Studies also showed that frequent milking (four or six times) for only 21 days at the beginning of the lactation may not only increase milk yield during the frequent milking period, but also produce carry-over effects that last well into lactation.

These results were of particular importance since it was shown the milking interval, could be as little as 2.5 - 3 hours after the previous milking thereby allowing for cows to be milked at the beginning and end of the same milking shift, and with relatively little added labor.

Increasing milk production by increasing milking frequency to four times a day.

Management and logistic problems with four times

a day milking

Managing a dairy wanting to change to four times a day milking can be compared to a racing car that in order to win a race needs:

An excellent driver

High octane fuel

Superior tires

A good technical team

Walking distance to the milking parlor and time in the holding pen had to be taken into account in order to ensure that cows returned to their pens quickly with enough time to, eat, drink,rest andruminate.

The fact that the size and composition of the fresh cow group changes according to the rate of calving led to logistic problems with cow housing and grouping.

Excellent feed management was needed in order to help prevent any health or reproductive complications associated with higher milk yields.

Optimal cow throughput, milking procedures, proficiency of the milkers and operation of the milking equipment are needed to shorten milking time minimize the possibility of udder infections.

The need for excellent management practices and changes in the cow's routine, in order to benefit from an extra milking, led to farmers eventually abandoning this concept and to use other management strategies in order to fine tune milking procedures.

Thank you for your attention now is the time for questions

Now you know how I feel with improved milking

parameters