Comparison of Milking Systems Based on Milk Quality and Milk Quantity

Abstract

We analysed one Holstein- Friesian dairy farm using two types of milking technologies. One of them is a parallel milking parlour (2x8), where 200 cows are milked twice a day. The other part of the animals (500 cows) is milked with robotic milking machine. The average daily milking frequency is 2.8. We processed data from nearly 700 cows. Based on the two different milking technologies, we formed two groups for the calculations. We collected daily milk production (kg/day), milk protein (%/kg), milk fat (%/kg) and somatic cell count (SCC) (cell number/cm3) data, based on a monthly test-day. Each month, there was significantly more milk production for robotic milking (P<5%). In the 2nd month of lactation, at the time of peak production, the average milk production of the animals was 43 kg and 37 kg, respectively. The milk protein content was higher in conventional milking, because less milk is more concentrated. At months 2, 3, 4, and 11 of lactation, the difference was significant. In the month of peak production (month 2): 3.27 and 3.22 (milk protein %). Milk fat% was higher in conventional milking only in months 2 and 3 of lactation, however, this level was significantly higher in the second half of lactation in addition to robotic milking. The somatic cell count of milk was lower each month for robotic milking. This difference was significant for the first 11 months. At 3 months of lactation: 140,000 (AMS) and 220,000 (CMS) (number of cells/cm3) (P<5%). Based on our results, we can conclude that significantly more milk and milk fat can be produced and significantly less the SCC with the robot milking.

Keywords

• milk fat
• milk protein
• milk yield
• robot milking
• somatic cell count