Livestock Systems Research Department, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland.
J Dairy Res. 2012 May;79(2):216-23. doi: 10.1017/S0022029912000088. Epub 2012 Feb 28.
Efficient milking systems, in terms of labour demand, capital investment and cow udder health are critical to successful dairy herd expansion. The objective of this study was to establish the effect of two primary influencing factors on efficient milking performance, i.e. parlour size (number of milking units) and pre-milking routine (full and nil) of spring-calved cows, in a single-operator side-by-side, swing-over milking parlour. Efficiency parameters investigated in a 5 × 2 factorial design included milk-flow and yield, row time, over-milking duration and operator idle time. Five combinations of parlour size (14, 18, 22, 26 and 30 milking units) each with two different pre-milking routines (Full: spray, strip, wipe, attach clusters, and Nil: attach clusters) were examined with one milking operator. The trial was carried out over 40 milking sessions and cows (up to 120) were randomly assigned to groups (n = 14, 18, 22, 26 or 30) before each milking session. Row within a milking session was the experimental unit. The experiment was carried out at both peak and late lactation. The data were analysed with a mixed model using GenStat 13.2. The full pre-milking routine reduced time to milk let-down and milking time, increased average flow rate but did not affect milk yield. As milking unit number increased, the duration of over-milking (defined as time at milk flow rate < 0·2 kg/min) increased more with a full compared with nil routine. Thus, the use of pre-milking preparation decreased milking time per cow but as parlour size increased, milking row times, as well as the proportion of cows that were over-milked, also increased, thereby reducing overall efficiency. These results have implications for milking management in single-operator swing-over, tandem and rotary parlours with seasonally calved herds.
从劳动力需求、资本投资和奶牛乳房健康的角度来看，高效的挤奶系统对于成功扩大奶牛群至关重要。本研究的目的是确定两个主要影响因素对单侧摆动式挤奶厅中单操作员挤奶性能的影响，这两个因素分别是牛舍大小（挤奶单元数量）和预挤奶程序（全挤奶和不挤奶）。在 5×2 析因设计中，我们调查了包括奶流和产量、挤奶行列时间、过度挤奶持续时间和操作员空闲时间在内的效率参数。每个预挤奶程序（全挤奶：喷雾、擦洗、擦拭、附接奶头，不挤奶：仅附接奶头）都有 5 种牛舍大小（14、18、22、26 和 30 个挤奶单元）组合，每个组合都由 1 名挤奶操作员进行检验。该试验共进行了 40 次挤奶，在每次挤奶前，将奶牛（最多 120 头）随机分配到不同的组（n=14、18、22、26 或 30）。挤奶过程中的一行是实验单位。该试验分别在泌乳高峰期和后期进行。使用 GenStat 13.2 中的混合模型对数据进行分析。全预挤奶程序减少了奶流启动时间和挤奶时间，增加了平均流速，但没有影响奶产量。随着挤奶单元数量的增加，在使用全预挤奶程序时，过度挤奶（定义为奶流速<0.2kg/min 的时间）的持续时间增加得更多。因此，使用预挤奶准备程序可以减少每头牛的挤奶时间，但随着牛舍大小的增加，挤奶行列时间以及过度挤奶的奶牛比例也会增加，从而降低整体效率。这些结果对季节性产犊牛群中单操作员摆动式、串联式和旋转式牛舍的挤奶管理具有启示意义。
