A method and system for determining milk characteristics for individual animals in a herd

摘要

The invention relations to a method of determining milk characteristics for individual animals within a cohort of milking animals, where the method is characterised by the steps of: a) recording individual identification of animals present at a milking shed for a milking event; b) recording the timing of the milking event for individual animals; c) measuring at least one milk characteristic of milk collected from the cohort of milking animals; d) correlating the identification of an individual animal with the timing of the milking event to develop a profile of one or more milk characteristics for the individual animal. A system for implementing the method is also claimed. The inventive method and system has particular application for determination of characteristics of milk from a selected animal from a group of animals, particularly, but not limited to, milk yield, based on measurement of an ensemble of milk production from a group of animals, such as a dairy herd or cohort of dairy cows.