Impact of Dry-off Management in Robotic Milking Systems on Milking, Milk Yield, and Somatic Cell Count

摘要

Intramammary infections (IMI) in dairy cows remain a common problem and have been associated with lower milk yields and quality (Pinedo et al., 2009), and decreased reproductive performance (Chebel et al., 2004) and welfare. Cows are most susceptibleto udder infections around the dry period; this is especially true for higher yielding cows and those dried off abruptly, in contrast with those cows dried off with a gradual approach. In automatic milking systems (AMS), it’s possible to tailor the dry-off process to each cow, by adjusting for milking frequency and feed supplement allocation at the robot. It is hypothesized that cows that have decreased milking allowance and decreased feeding allowance in the two weeks prior to dry off will be dried off at a lower milk yield, and thus will be at lower risk of having elevated somatic cell count (SCC) at dry-off and in the subsequent lactation, compared with cows that are not restricted in milking or feeding allowance in the two weeks prior to dry-off.This study strived to determine how feeding and/or milking restriction in AMS cows in the two weeks prior to dry-off affect milk frequency, milk yield and SCC levels before the dry period and in the next lactation.