Milk in the tank with less effort

When temperatures drop cows start to grow thicker hair to protect them against the winter cold. This makes them sweat, and excessive hair growth on the udder and tail may also impair robot efficiency. Cows’ tails are usually shaved mechanically using a shaver. There are two options for removing hair from the udder: shaving or singeing (flame clipping).

For an optimal milking process, we want to milk quickly (effective in time), gently (maintaining the comfort and well-being of the cow) and completely (milk out most of the available milk). To help achieve this optimal result, the liner choice, condition and maintenance are of major importance to this.

The somatic cell count (SCC) is a common benchmark used in mastitis management. Testing of the SCC of composite cow milk should be done every 3 weeks to 6 weeks. Additional measurements between milk controls can help with the early detection of changes in udder health.

Udder health is of major importance to milk production, cow welfare and farmer working pleasure. Basically, every case of mastitis occurs due to bacteria that enter the udder via the teat sphincter and teat canal. The teat canal and the teat sphincter are the first and most important line of defence. On a teat where the skin is strong, smooth and flexible, bacteria have the least chance of finding a home. In this article you will find some practical tips for keeping cows’ teats in perfect shape.