Performance of single teat cups in simulated automatic routines comparedto conventional cluster milking of cows

摘要

Routines and equipment in automatic milking systems (AMS) differ from conventional milking in various aspects. AMS mostly start with teat cleaning and attach the separate teat cups comparatively slowly. AMS typically remove cups from each quarter separately. Time of cup removal is determined by individual quarter milk flow. Machine stripping is not included. To assess the relevance of related differences for milking performance, trials were carried out with 15 cows yielding 29.4 kg/d on average. Cows were milked twice daily in 2 tandem boxes by 2 milkers. Milking was carried out with either a standard cluster or a set of original robot teat cups with identical liners, respectively. 660 milk flow profiles were registered by strain gauge recorder jars.