Knowing what’s happening inside the teatcup
A cow’s comfort, the time she
takes to milk, how much milk is drawn from the udder, and her risk of getting
mastitis all depend on what happens in the teatcup.
And what happens in the teatcup
relies on how the milking machine is functioning and how each person handles and
milks the cows.
As you can’t see what is
happening inside the teatcup, how do you know if a problem is developing?
Fortunately there are easy ways
of monitoring your milking system. These are described in detail in the Countdown
Downunder Farm Guidelines for Mastitis Control and include:
Each day
- Checking teat condition as the cups come off
- Being aware if cows are starting to get
nervous or uncomfortable at
any time during milking
- Listening to hear whether
the air intake of each pulsator is regular and consistent
- Reading the vacuum gauge
Each week
- Checking the condition
of the liners
- Ensuring they are not
twisted (place your thumb in the liner, or look to see whether the mark on
the rubber mouthpiece and rubber stem are in line)
Each month
- Counting cup slips
(there should be no more than 5 cup slips per 100 cows)
- Hand stripping each
quarter of 20 cows to check if they are under milking
- Measuring the average
milking time of several cows
- Checking the effective
reserve and regulator function.
These checks will help detect
gradual changes in your milking system. This is important – because if it
makes a difference at the teat, it makes a difference!
Image and caption
NB1GE_3.jpg “If only we could see inside the teatcup…”
NB3GE_6.jpg “Checking for
liner twists”
Countdown Downunder Farm Guideline or
Technote
Farm Guideline 6.1
Keywords
milking systems, teat health
Word length
262
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