How farmers can benefit from advances in milking tech

In the busy world of dairy farming, the milking machine is often just an everyday tool that fulfils its purpose, then is turned off and forgotten about until the next milking.

But there are plenty of opportunities for dairy farms to improve udder health, milk quality and milking efficiency by optimising milking machine performance.

Despite being thought of as an unglamorous, daily work venue, the milking parlour is the focus of constant, exciting developments.

See also: Advice on installing a new dairy parlour

About the author

Tom Greenham

Tom Greenham is a director of Advance Milking, a consultancy service for all aspects of udder health and milking machine performance. Advance Milking works with dairy farms across the UK and Ireland to optimise udder health, milk quality and milking efficiency. Mr Greenham also provides research, training and independent support to the dairy industry internationally.

Read more articles by Tom Greenham

The milking machine industry is a hive of activity, with research, refinements and innovations to improve milking performance for both the cows and the humans of our dairy farms.

Progress in milking machine optimisation was showcased recently in Poland at the Better Milking Advice international conference, run by BioControl, a company specialising in technological solutions for the agri­cultural sector.

The main manufacturers of conventional and robotic systems attend, with presentations on some of their innovations that are about to come to market.

There are also lots of talks from independent researchers on some of the latest concepts in machine milking.

This year, speakers and delegates (from the UK, Poland, Finland and Greece, as well as the US and Lebanon) were a mixture of independent dairy researchers, milking machine consultants, dairy engineers, milking machine manufacturers and vets with an interest in udder health.

The diverse range of countries was matched by a diverse range of topics, many of which have great practical application to UK dairy farms.

Vacuum and milk flow

Novel milking technologies are of interest for anyone looking at investing in a new parlour, but there are also some interesting developments that can apply to existing installations.

Ian Ohnstad of The Dairy Group presented new data on the use of flow-dependent vacuum to optimise milking speeds.

Increasing system vacuum in response to higher milk-flow rates from the cow maintains a stable vacuum at the teat end, and avoids the vacuum drop commonly seen in high-flow cows.

This can be utilised in both conventional and robotic installations, although the full potential of this strategy is achieved in systems with the capacity for vacuum adjustment of individual quarters.

In a separate presentation, Dr Doug Reinemann from the University of Wisconsin showed data from DeLaval’s robot milking machine that had a 15% increase in milk flow rates.

There was also an average reduction in total milking time of 30 seconds a cow because of flow-responsive milking.

These trials also showed a more even milking between quarters, and a more complete milking.

However, Doug’s messages weren’t limited to robot users. His research has practical application for all dairy farms.

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Developments in machine testing

Signe Jahren Viaud from BioControl detailed the latest developments in the VaDia testing hardware and software, including new features aimed at improving the ease and accuracy of static and milking time testing.

One new tool is the liner compression test, outlined by Michael Hubal from LWK Niedersachsen in Germany.

This is a guide to the amount of force that teat ends are exposed to during milking, allowing prediction of teat conditions that influence milking speed and mastitis risk, such as hyperkeratosis and teat congestion.

Machine performance is also influenced by different cow characteristics.

I gave a presentation on how milking time testing reveals the interactions between machine settings, liner choices, and cow anatomy and physiology.

Different milk flow rates affect vacuum within the liner, altering liner compression on the teat. Variation in teat size and shape alters the compressive load on the teat end, even with the same liner and machine settings.

Further liner discussion came from Alen Dzidic, of the University of Zagreb, presenting his research on the effect liner and teat dimensions have on teat penetration within the liner.

International standards revised

New testing technology and methods allow greater optimisation of milking performance than is possible with static machine testing alone.

John Baines, from the working group on ISO standards for milking installations, updated the conference on the revisions of the standards.

These are being rewritten to reflect changes in both milking technology and machine testing.

The new ISO standards will provide guidance to dairy manufacturers and engineers, helping the latest research and development to benefit the end users on farm.