The influence of milking parlour equipment on the workload of the milker

摘要

The technical development in milk production has lead to changes in milking parlours concerning the workload of milkers. Physically demanding work tasks have become less, but at the same time the variety of tasks has decreased. Modern milking parlours are functioning highly efficient. One of the remaining physically demanding tasks is attaching the milking unit; strain depends on its weight, the task duration as well as the body posture. The body posture is influenced by the size of the person and the distance between the worker and the udder.rnThe results of an evaluation of temporary disability data showed a significant number of female milkers being absent due to musculoskeletal disorders (Liebers & Caffier 2005). A Swedish long term survey also reported a raise in discomfort among milkers (Pinzke 2003). This is contradictory to the actual decrease of physically demanding work during milking. The objective of this study was to analyse the actual work routine and the influence of several factors like the equipment and the work style.rnFor this the body postures were measured with a motion analysis system (Simi Reality Motion Systems, Germany) in two different milking systems (Herringbone, Side-by-Side) while the milker was attaching the cluster. The applied motion analysis system was based on video tracking of the work process and the consecutive generation of 3-D-room-coordinates calculated from marker positions on the worker's body. The marker positions were determined from two videos for each frame by tracking algorithms of the software.