Good milking routines provide cost-free rewards

With milk prices lower this year you need to minimise demand on cash flow while reducing the potential for longer-term problems.

On-going mastitis control is essential because an increased number of mastitis infections now, can lead to significant losses in the next two to three lactations. It doesn’t cost anything to assess and optimise milking routines.

The time cows spend attached to milking machines is directly related to the risk of teat damage and mastitis. The aim is to take cups off earlier, without under-milking.

The timing of cups-off is often influenced by the cups-on process. When cups are attached too early, before the teats are plump with milk, teatcups ‘crawl’ up teats obstructing the passage of milk from the udder to the teat. Cows then take longer to milk. It’s common to both incompletely milk and over-milk the same cows!

One way to check the efficiency of your milking routine is to measure the amount of milk left in the udder at the end of milking (the ‘strippings’). Hand-strip 25 cows at the end of milking. If more than 20 of the 100 quarters have strip yields of about 100 mL or more you have a problem that warrants further investigation.

Machine stripping (putting a weight on the cluster at the end of milking) should not be routinely used to collect milk remaining in the udder. It causes more problems by unbalancing the cluster, increasing cup slippage and increasing the risk of mastitis.

Image and caption

“Strip yields should not exceed 100 mL in 20% of quarters”

Countdown Downunder Farm Guideline or Technote

Farm Guideline 5.4, 5.5, 5.8 and 6

Keywords

Under-milking, over-milking, machine stripping, strip yield

Word length

333