Milking Parlor and Nutrition Flashcards
What do we look for in an ideal milking system?
-Harvest milk quickly and gently
-Improve labor efficiency
-Maintain animal health
-Be easily sanitized
-Routinely serviced for optimum performance
Basic udder anatomy
-Udder has 4 quarters
-Each quarter has 1 teat
Basic milking machine
-Milking unit is attached to teats by vacuum
-Liner squeezes and relaxes on the teat to stimulate milk let down
-Milk flows into line by gravity and is then pumped into bulk tanks
What is a bulk tank?
Where milk is stored and cooled until it is picked up, stainless steel pipes run from the parlor to the bulk tank
What is the process of milk transportation?
-Milk is picked up from the bulk tank by refridgerator truck every day or every other day
-Milk sample is taken at every pickup to be tested at milk plant
-Milk must meet certian standards to be sold
What is robotic milking?
-Cows are able to freely enter a milker that recognizes each cow by RFID collar
-No human labor is required for the milking procedure which frees up workers to do other farm duties
-Machine requires routine maintenance
-Cows should still be monitored by humans to watch for evidence of disease
What needs to be done for an adequate milking proceedure?
-Minimize infection of the teats and udder to prevent contamination of milk product
-Minimize stress to the cow
What does stress do to milk?
-Interferes with the hormone oxytocin which is responsible for milk let down
-Stressed cows will not produce as much milk as relaxed cows
What are the types of parlors?
-Harringbone
-Side opening/tandem
-Rotary
-Parallel
What are the aspects of a parallel parlor?
-Cows enter and exit at the same time
-Cows are side to side (parallel)
-Access to udder is from the hind end only
-Risk of kicking
What are aspects of the herringbone parlor?
-Stalls at an angle
-Cows enter and leave as a group
-Most commonly used
-Easy to train cows to use this set up
-Access to udder from the back or the side
What are aspects of the side opening/tandem parlor?
-Cows stand nose to tail in stalls
-Fewer cows fit at a time
-Cows can be released individually
-Milker has side access to the udder
-Decreased risk of being kicked
What are the aspects of the rotary parlor?
-Cows enter on a rotating platform
-Increased efficiency for milker because they stay in one position while cows rotate around
-Can be harder to train cows at first
-Very efficient way to milk larger groups of cows in a smaller space
What is the milking proceedure?
-Teats are washed, stripped, dried, and sanitized
-Cleaning the teat end causes the realease of oxytocin to stimulate milk let down
-Examination of milk can occur before attaching unit
-Milking unit is attached, cow is milked for 6-8 mins
-Teats are dipped in antiseptic solution
-Cow is released
Good udder prep can decrease bacteria loads on the teat by…
85%
