Research Article

The daily distribution of milkings of cows in farms equipped with the automatic milking system

Dariusz Piwczyński, Beata Sitkowska, Joanna Aerts, Magdalena Kolenda

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 12(4), 2013, 61‒70

Abstract. The material of the study consisted of 140 cows of PHF breed, reared in the farm equipped with the automatic milking system (AMS). Cows in different lactations (from 1 to 5) were reared in the period from May 2011 to April 2013. The daily distribution of milkings (12, two-hours periods) was analyzed according to: cows’ age (primiparous and multiparous), the average milk production per milking during the whole lactation (<12.5 kg, ≥12.5 kg) and season (spring, summer, autumn, winter). The statistical analysis was conducted with the use of the χ² independence test. It was noted that the daily distribution of milkings was statistically conditioned by all analyzed factors. The first peak of the increased milking frequency was obtained during midday hours and the next one during late night hours, i.e. during hours that are generally different from the typical milking hours in farms that do not use AMS. The lowest milking frequency was recorded during milking hours typical for farms that do not use the AMS.

Keywords: automatic milking system, cattle, milk