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Robot utilisation of pasture-based dairy cows with varying levels of milking frequency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2018

A. J. John Open the ORCID record for A. J. John [Opens in a new window] ,
M. J. Freeman ,
K. F. Kerrisk Open the ORCID record for K. F. Kerrisk [Opens in a new window] ,
S. C. Garcia Open the ORCID record for S. C. Garcia [Opens in a new window]  and
C. E. F. Clark
A. J. John*
Affiliation:
Dairy Science Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia
M. J. Freeman
Affiliation:
Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture Dairy Centre, University of Tasmania, Burnie, Tasmania 7320, Australia
K. F. Kerrisk
Affiliation:
Dairy Science Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia
S. C. Garcia
Affiliation:
Dairy Science Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia
C. E. F. Clark
Affiliation:
Dairy Science Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570, Australia
*
†E-mail: ajoh7559@uni.sydney.edu.au
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Abstract

Achieving a consistent level of robot utilisation throughout 24 h maximises automatic milking system (AMS) utilisation. However, levels of robot utilisation in the early morning hours are typically low, caused by the diurnal feeding behaviour of cows, limiting the inherent capacity and total production of pasture-based AMS. Our objective was to determine robot utilisation throughout 24 h by dairy cows, based on milking frequency (MF; milking events per animal per day) in a pasture-based AMS. Milking data were collected from January and February 2013 across 56 days, from a single herd of 186 animals (Bos taurus) utilising three Lely A3 robotic milking units, located in Tasmania, Australia. The dairy herd was categorised into three equal sized groups (n=62 per group) according to the cow’s mean daily MF over the duration of the study. Robot utilisation was characterised by an interaction (P< 0.001) between the three MF groups and time of day, with peak milking time for high MF cows within one h of a fresh pasture allocation becoming available, followed by the medium MF and low MF cows 2 and 4 h later, respectively. Cows in the high MF group also presented for milking between 2400 and 0600 h more frequently (77% of nights), compared to the medium MF group (57%) and low MF group (50%). This study has shown the formation of three distinct groups of cows within a herd, based on their MF levels. Further work is required to determine if this finding is replicated across other pasture-based AMS farms.

Keywords

automatic milking systemforagegrazingvoluntary trafficruminant
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 13 , Issue 7 , July 2019 , pp. 1529 - 1535
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2018 

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