The effect of omitted milking on the behaviour of cows in the context of cluster attachment failure during automatic milking

• Published in: Applied animal behaviour science 2000-04, Vol.67 (4), p.277-291
• Main Authors: Stefanowska, J, Plavsic, M, Ipema, A.H, Hendriks, M.M.W.B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR; ALIMENTACION; ALIMENTATION; ANIMAL WELFARE; AUTOMATAS; AUTOMATE; Automatic milking; AUTOMATION; AUTOMATISATION; AUTOMATIZACION; BEHAVIOUR; BIEN ETRE ANIMAL; BIENESTAR ANIMAL; BOVIN LAITIER; Cluster attachment failure; COMPORTAMIENTO; COMPORTAMIENTO AGRESIVO; COMPORTEMENT; COMPORTEMENT AGRESSIF; COMPORTEMENT ALIMENTAIRE; DAIRY CATTLE; DAIRY COWS; FEED INTAKE; FEEDING; FEEDING HABITS; GANADO DE LECHE; HABITOS ALIMENTARIOS; INGESTION DE PIENSOS; Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering; Instituut voor Mechanisatie, Arbeid en Gebouwen; MACHINE A TRAIRE; MAQUINAS DE ORDENO; Milk leakage; MILKING; MILKING MACHINES; Omitted milking; ORDENO; Plant Research International; PRISE ALIMENTAIRE (ANIMAUX); ROBOTS; TRAITE; VACAS LECHERAS; VACHE LAITIERE
• ISSN: 0168-1591; 1872-9045
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-1591(00)00087-3

In robotic milking there is always a slight chance of failure to attach the milking cluster. Attachment failure is most likely for cows whose udder conformation is less convenient for robot attachment. In general, after milking failure cows try to revisit the milking robot if they are not sent to a separate area. Since it is difficult to estimate the effect of milking failure on such a cow and her welfare in conditions of robotic milking, a specific 16-day trial was conducted on 12 cows. These cows were milked in a milking parlour with six milking stalls. Each afternoon milking, three cows were not milked. All the cows were closely observed in the cubicle house for 1 h after the afternoon milking. Thereafter, all cows were brought to the milking parlour the third time and the three unmilked cows were milked. In total, each cow was observed 12 times after milking and four times after omitted milking. The following behavioural traits were registered: time budget for the 1 h, occurrence and time until eating, drinking, lying, urination and defecation, and aggressive interactions. Milking order was defined on the basis of how often a cow came to the milking parlour in the first batch of six cows. Moreover, the data related to the milk yield and the use of the automatic feeding installation with the complete diet were analysed. After omitted milking, only the cows from the first batch stood longer in cubicles (14.2 min of 1 h) and lay less (5.4 min of 1 h) than milked cows of the same batch (respectively 7.0 min and 16.3 min for standing and lying in cubicles) ( P