A randomized controlled trial to study the effect of supplemental premilking stimulation on milking performance, teat tissue condition, udder health, and well-being in dairy cows

Publikationen als Autor:in / Herausgeber:in der Vetmeduni

Palme, Rupert

Abstrakt

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of supplemental premilking stimulation, provided after manual stimulation, by means of high-frequency pulsation without reduction of the vacuum in the pulsation chamber on milking performance, teat tissue condition, udder health, and well-being in dairy cows. In a randomized controlled trial, Holstein cows (n = 491) from 1 commercial dairy farm with a thrice-daily milking schedule were assigned to treatment and control groups over a 64-d period. Treatments consisted of a maximum of 20 s of pulsation stimulation at a pulsation rate of 100 (SPS100) or 300 (SPS300) cycles per minute and a pulsation ratio of 25:75. The treatments were applied after completion of manual premilking stimulation upon milking unit attachment. Cows in the control group (CON) received only traditional premilking stimulation by manual forestripping and wiping for 6 s. Milking characteristics were measured with on-farm milk flow meters. Milking machine-induced short-term (swelling at teat base, firmness at teat end, and teat discoloration) and long-term (teat-end callosity) changes to the teat tissue were assessed manually and visually. Composite milk samples were analyzed for SCC. Cow hind-leg activity was assessed with 3-dimensional accelerometers. Fecal 11,17-dioxoandrostanes (11,17-DOA; a group of cortisol metabolites) were determined on wk 4 and 8 to assess the well-being of the cows. Generalized linear mixed models were used to study the effect of treatments on the outcome variables milk yield per milking and milking unit- on time. We observed no meaningful differences among groups for milk yield or milking unit-on time. Least squares means and their 95% CI for cows in the SPS100, SPS300, and CON groups were 13.9 (13.3-14.5), 14.0 (13.4-14.6), and 13.9 (13.3-14.6) kg for milk yield and

Dokumententyp

Originalarbeit

Open Access Type

Gold

DOI

10.3168/jds.2024-25148

PubMed ID

MEDLINE:39154716