Evolutionary biologists have long pondered the origin of lactation in mammals: converting food into milk is energetically expensive and can consume up to 25 per cent of the food's original value. But it is ubiquitous amongst mammals although absent in birds. A new study Proceedings of the Royal Society series B (published online), has modelled the potential benefits of lactation. They have cont...

The time constraints of the classic twice-daily milking routine are less easily endured by individual dairy farmers, because of their impact on quality of life. Our aim was to evaluate milk production responses by dairy cows milked twice daily at contrasting intervals. In experiments 1 (20 cows) and 2 (28 cows), four milking regimes were compared during a 3-week period beginning after the peak ...

OBJECTIVES The primary aim of this cross-sectional research study was to quantify upper limb muscle activity among workers performing milking tasks in large-herd dairy parlors. METHODS Surface electromyography (sEMG) from the trapezius, anterior deltoid, biceps brachii, wrist flexors, and wrist extensors muscles of 26 dairy workers were used to create muscle activity profiles for the milking ...

The relationships between cow nutrition, restricted suckling and milking patterns and their effect on milk yield, milk composition and calf growth were examined under tropical conditions in south east Mexico. Eleven Bos indicus 3 Bos taurus cows, 14 days postpartum, with calves weighing on average 37 kg were used in a change-over experimental design. All cows were fed Cynodon nlemfuensis hay ad...

The importance of a consistent and comprehensive milking routine as a critical component of any mastitis control program is well documented. However, as pressure on time increases, farmers are faced with 3 options: (1) adjust the milking routine to suit the time available, (2) undertake the task less thoroughly, or (3) examine which elements of the milking routine can be automated and substitut...

A stochastic cost equation was estimated for US dairy farms using national data from the production year 2000 to determine how farmers might reduce their cost of production. Cost of producing a unit of milk was estimated into separate frontier (efficient) and inefficiency components, with both components estimated as a function of management and causation variables. Variables were entered as im...

The introduction of automatic milking technology, including on-line individual data acquisition and processing, requires adaptation of dairy management methods. Automatic milking systems allow the individual cow to be milked and fed according to her production performance and potential to achieve maximal profits with minimal resources. Because the farmer is not actually present each time a milk...

The aim of this study was to test whether a more pronounced oxytocin release induced by naloxone during milking causes higher efficiency of milk removal. Eight pregnant multiparous Holstein cows from second to fifth lactation were used for this experiment. The experiment was carried out during three consecutive days, i.e. six milkings (three morning and three evening milkings). During first and...

A case-control study of environmental and behavioural factors influencing foot lameness was undertaken on 62 dairy herds comprising an average of 185 milking cows in Taranaki, New Zealand. Thirty two case herds were identified as having had at least 10 per cent of the cows lame during the milking season in which the herd was studied, and thirty control herds were selected on the basis that no m...

Milk flow measurements on 124 cows were analyzed to deternfine how they are affected by vacuum level, pulsation rate, pulsation ratio of the milking maehine, and the breed, age, stage of laetation, and milk yield of the cow. Average rate of flow prior to machine stripping, yield during the first minute, and yield during the first 2 rain of milking were highly correlated with maxinmm rate of mil...