We all know the gold standard for milking cows is to milk clean, dry, well-stimulated teats. This is achieved through the process of applying pre-dip, stripping each teat three to four times, cleaning teats with one towel per cow and applying the milking cluster 60 to 90 seconds later. Achieving this consistently takes great management of people and often requires retraining and follow-up. This can be a challenge on farms of all sizes, regardless if milking is performed by hired employees or family members.
Automation drives labor efficiencies
Labor is one of the biggest expenditures on a farm, and we often overlook the unpaid aspect of people’s time and energy. Automating parlor positions or parts of the milk harvesting process can provide large labor-saving opportunities. Pre-spray robots or brushes are becoming more commonly used as they provide shorter, more-consistent prep routines, allowing more cows to be milked more quickly. When considering udder health and bacterial load at the teat end, it becomes a toss-up when these shorter routines are being implemented or new technology is not being monitored closely for accuracy.
Trade-offs are often made when time is of the essence, and understanding the priority for each farm is important when implementing new routines or technology. Milking point efficiency is one unit of efficiency we can measure, and it is a key performance indicator (KPI) used at many dairies to measure the interaction between labor efficiency, cow performance and bottom-line profitability of the milking center. Pounds of milk, milkfat, total solids per milking stall and per labor unit are KPIs many farms use to manage their return on investment.
Uncover the potential of current equipment
Are you utilizing and optimizing all you have already paid for? Is there untapped potential and ways your existing milking equipment can help you out?
Many milk point manufacturers have a stimulation function on their equipment. This is not new technology; in fact, it’s been around for 50 years. Stimulation functionality can be advantageous and make up for deviation in routines. With bimodal milking, we know it is possible that there is a lack of stimulation during prep. If milkers cannot consistently stimulate cows with the gold standard of preparation, the milking unit will do it. Why not let the automation do the work? Consider how much time is lost in the parlor if milkers are waiting 60 to 90 seconds to attach (if there was no or poor stimulation), then letting the milking unit take an additional 60 to 90 seconds to stimulate the cow.
Going against traditional thinking, what if we inspect milk, clean teats and attach units at one spot or at a few consecutive stalls on a rotary? It’s possible to let the milking unit prep the cows with a pulsation function. Then, based on either time or milk flow threshold settings, transition into regular milking. Using flow-adjusted stimulation can lead to a better work environment with less steps and fatigue for the workers.
This technology also allows the cows to dictate how much prep lag time they need, creating a more individualized experience for each cow’s comfort. An example of this is late-lactation animals. They have less milk and need more lag time for that milk to drain from the alveoli to the cistern, as the milk ducts are not full. We can also optimize the time the cows remain in the stall and achieve a more complete milk-out. Several farms are seeing the benefits of implementing flow-adjusted stimulation technology. At the end of the day, what is better for the cow is better for the farm – that is a win.
Measuring success of new practices
How do we measure success when using flow-adjusted stimulation technology? Unfortunately, we cannot use the old KPI of milk in the first 2 minutes, as we need to allow for 60 to 90 seconds of preparation when the milking cluster is attached. Without that KPI, ID time to detach is the metric most applicable to evaluate if we improved the situation for the cow and the farm.
However, retrieving ID time to detach can be a challenge requiring manually calculating ID to attach plus milking duration to get the total amount of time. Milking incidents such as forced detach or manual take-offs are another great measurement of success as these reflect complete milk-out. Complete milk-out can improve udder health.
On a rotary, reducing forced detach by 30% to 50% is a big improvement, and in certain situations, it can allow for either a faster rotation time or a space for more automation implementation. It has been reported that up to 30 to 60 seconds can be shaved off the total time from ID to detach by using a pre-stimulation function and attaching milking clusters immediately after cleaning. This may come with an extra milking duration of 20 to 30 seconds, even with attaching 60 seconds earlier. Some herds have seen no change in milking duration, especially if the unit was doing all the preparation before. Stimulation technology does not make up for poor management or genetics, but it can improve the efficiency of the milking process when used correctly.
Making milking improvements industrywide
Industrywide, we see milk production continuing to increase while average milking durations decrease, meaning the milking system must continue to harvest more milk more quickly. Data from automated milking systems herds with quarter milking suggest we have cows that are not only bred to produce milk but can also milk out quickly. So now the question is this: Are we limiting that genetic potential with our current conventional milking systems?
All devices and milk paths have vacuum drops that can become larger at higher flow rates. As cows continue to milk more quickly, we can mitigate this with larger-diameter milk paths. However, the cow is still exposed to high vacuum during periods of low flow. Changing vacuum levels is not new technology, but being able to do it precisely is still a novel concept.
Increasing vacuum during the period of peak flow allows us to increase peak flow and shorten milking duration. Then, as milk flow drops, so does the vacuum level, protecting the teat from low flow and allowing for more complete milk-out in a shorter time. Ultimately, this protects the teat and the udder – the most important part of the cow.
Milking point automation on farms that already use milk meters may be an undervalued or overlooked way to individualize each cow’s milking experience, optimize the milk extraction process and improve the work environment for employees. We know cows want consistency, which can be achieved with automated stimulation and/or precision milking point vacuum changes. These technologies can provide precision milk harvesting with our cows today and in the future with efficiency, animal health and milk quality in mind.
