This paper positions the recent emergence of robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS) in relation to discourses surrounding the longer history of milking technologies in the UK and elsewhere. The mechanization of milking has been associated with sets of hopes and anxieties which permeated the transition from hand to increasingly automated forms of milking. This transition has affected the rel...

In the past century, great strides have been made toward optimizing milk production efficiency of dairy cows. One of the key findings that has emerged is that the milk yield of dairy cows is responsive to demands of offspring or milk removal; hence, milk production can be increased by frequent milking. Early studies illustrated the galactopoietic effect of frequent milking during the entire lac...

The aims of the present study were (1) to evaluate the influence of using mobile (n=47) or fixed (n=45) milking machines in Azorean herds on the apparent prevalence of several milk pathogens in bulk tank milk (BTM) and (2) to determine whether separated subclinical mastitic cows can serve, in real time, as predictors of milk pathogen prevalence for the remaining animals at the herd level. The u...

BACKGROUND Milkability is a complex trait that is characterized by milk flow traits including average milk flow rate, maximum milk flow rate and total milking time. Milkability has long been recognized as an economically important trait that can be improved through selection. By improving milkability, management costs of milking decrease through reduced labor and improved efficiency of the auto...

The milking unit can be detached at a milk flow rate of 400 g/min without having a negative effect on milk yield. Machine-on time is shortened and teat condition improved, and udder health does not seem to be affected. The threshold may be set even higher for cows milked more than twice daily. It is recommended that specific setting of switch points and delay times are evaluated for each farm. ...

The aim ot the study was to examine the effect of morphine and naloxone pretreatment on cortisol and ACTH concentrations in response to machine milking in dairy cows. In the first part of the experiment, the effects of i.v. morphine doses (0, 21, 70 and 210 mg, one dose each day) 10 min before morning milking were studied in six Brown Swiss dairy cows. In the second part, four cows were treated...

Few studies have been developed to evaluate the differences of bovine mastitis situation between hand and machine milking under the American tropic conditions. Twenty dairy herds were studied, 11 using hand milking (HM) and 9 machine milking (MM), from «San José de las Lajas» municipality, Mayabeque province. Between May 2009 and March 2012, samples from 182 cows (113 MM and 69 HM) were obtaine...

Eight Holstein cows were used to determine the relationship among milk urea nitrogen (MUN), plasma urea nitrogen (PUN), and feeding time. We first established that MUN concentrations were similar in concentration among quarters by comparing milk samples from each quarter just before milking. In order to determine if collecting a sample of milk from a quarter influenced the MUN in samples taken ...

Opinions are divided about the degree to which an udder should be empty after milking. While many farmers, based on their experience, try to empty the udder as completely as possible, their colleagues as well as some representatives of the milking industry and some milking consultants have a more relaxed attitude. They argue that it is completely normal that milk remains in the udder after milk...