3 focus areas for managing mastitis risk in robotic herds

A focus on key problem areas for mastitis control in automatic milking systems has informed updates to the Mastitis Control Plan for robotic dairy units.

Deliverers of the plan are increasingly being called to mastitis investigations on units with automatic milking systems (AMS), according to a report shared by Al Manning of Quality Milk Management Services.

“We know that AMS farms treat cows, manage cows, milk cows in a very different way.

“So we wanted to adapt the Mastitis Control Plan so we’d have specific questions for farms using robotic systems,” says Al.

See also: How to reduce mastitis risk when using a robotic milking system

He has identified three common “problem areas” for managing environmental and contagious pathogens, based on his own and others’ experience of delivering the plan.

1. The collecting yard

“The collecting yard is the area adjacent to the robot that the cow has to go through before it enters the booth,” says Al.

This can mean the whole shed in a free-access system, or it can be a confined space in a feed-first or milk-first system.

Recommendations

• Sufficient drainage to prevent excess pooling of slurry at the entrance and exit of the robots.
• A loafing area of at least 1.5sq m a cow and ideally more than 3sq m a cow. For free-access systems, this should be the whole loafing area of the shed; for guided systems, this should be based on the maximum number of cows expected to be in a holding pen.
• No more than 55 cows in the milking box.
• Access to more than one milking robot for each group, to prevent dominant cows from “guarding” robots.
• Safe, non-slip flooring.

2. Mastitis detection

Milking robot detection technology for mastitis can look at electrical conductivity, colour changes, somatic cell count estimation, milk yield, kick-offs and changes in visit behaviour.

Recommendations

• Use all available technology to identify new mastitis cases.
• Check the udder health list daily – if in any doubt, a California milk test should be used.
• Prioritise sensitivity over specificity. When maximising sensitivity, specificity will be lower, so the machine will identify some cows that do not have mastitis. This is the payoff for increasing sensitivity so as not to miss any with clinical mastitis.

3. Post-milking management

“One thing that is very different [in an AMS] is that cows can exit the robot and go and lie down straight away if they want to,” says Al.

“But most cows don’t.” He explains that cows want to do other things, but they need the opportunity and reason to stay standing, and space is important for that.

“The reason we want cows to stay standing is because we know it takes a bit of time for the streak canal to close,” he adds.

Recommendations to keep cows standing

• Sufficient space – at least 3sq m a cow – this can be inside or outside.
• Good access to cubicles with wide passageways, to allow movement.
• Good access to feed – at least 0.75m a cow, with regular feed push-up (six times daily, or every four hours). There is no evidence that cows in AMS need less feed space.
• Good access to water – at least 0.1m a cow of trough space.
• Forced standing after milking should be avoided for cows that do want to lie down. (This can occur in a guided system when there is a holding pen after the robot.)
• Non-slip flooring on exit of the robot.

Al Manning was speaking at the British Mastitis Conference on 17 June in Worcester