Milking time behavior of dairy cows in a free-flow automated milking system.

The objective of this preliminary observational study was to determine milking time behavior of cows in a free-flow automated (robotic) milking system (AMS) and identify potential factors that influenced the time waiting to be milked. Milking time behavior of 40 cows from 1 pen on a commercial dairy farm with a free-flow AMS was evaluated using video analysis over 2 d. For each study cow, data were assessed for waiting time to access the milking robot, the use of the fetch pen, robot refusals, and their lying behavior. On average, cows visited the robot to wait to be milked 6 times per day, for 15 min per visit, for a total daily waiting time of 88 min per cow (range 5 to 322 min). Daily waiting time was longer for primiparous cows and decreased with increasing days in milk, but this effect interacted with parity. Daily waiting time and number of visits to the robot were associated with voluntary use of the fetch pen. Furthermore, cows with long daily waiting times had shorter daily lying times compared with cows with short daily waiting times (9.5 vs. 11.1 h/d). It is possible that factors related to the design and layout of the AMS entry and fetch pen had an effect on waiting behavior. We inferred that adoption of grouping strategies intended to reduce competitive behavior, especially toward primiparous cows, could improve milking time behavior in a free-flow AMS. This preliminary observational data from a single herd highlights the need to confirm the findings across multiple AMS herds, both with free-flow and guided-flow systems.

Designing Automated Milking Dairy Facilities to Maximize Labor Efficiency.

As automatic milking systems grow in popularity in North America, questions about how to design the barn to improve labor efficiency arise. Multiple considerations such as cow flow traffic type, robot positioning within the pen, the number of cows per pen, and how cows are managed around the robots must be discussed during the barn planning period. This article focuses on barn design and pen layout to maximize labor efficiency in herds with single-box automatic milking systems.

Calf Barn Design to Optimize Health and Ease of Management.

This article offers general calf barn design recommendations to optimize calf health gleaned from clinical and research experience in a Midwestern US climate. Barn components that are discussed include sizing the barn, ventilating the facility, and providing a clean, deeply bedded, dry area for the calf. In addition, considerations for maximizing labor efficiency and reducing the spread of disease by caregivers are discussed.