Comparison between two methods of measurement of milking speed in dairy cattle reared in Trento province

Abstract

Milking speed can be considered an important functional trait in dairy cattle, with regard to udder health, and to improve the dairy profits (Mein, 1998, Blake and McDaniel, 1978; Meyer and Burnside, 1987; Luttinen and Juga, 1997; Dodenhoff et al., 2000, Bagnato et al., 2001). National Breeders Association of Italian Brown and Friesian cattle are official recording milking speed using a flowmeter (Lactocorder by Foss Electric) and subjective evaluation given by the farmer, respectively. The flowmeter is an instrument easily adaptable on different milking machine (Santus and Bagnato, 1999), but it does not allow a complete recording of all cows in all dairy herds, especially when located in mountain area.......

Keywords

• dairy cattle, milking speed, methods of measurement.