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Variations in the Response of Dairy Cows to a Standard Method of Machine Milking^1,2,

Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan

ABSTRACT

Under standard machine milking conditions the time required to milk 102 cows of the Ayrshire, Guernsey, Holstein and Jersey breeds during their peak production period ranged from 2 to 7 min. per cow. The average milking time amounted to 3.5 min., with about 76 per cent of the milkings completed in 4 min. or less, and 39 per cent in 3 min. or less.

Highly significant breed differences were observed in the response of cows to standard methods of machine milking, as measured by milk flow curves obtained from 102 cows during early lactation, and from 48 cows of this larger group during the subsequent middle and late stages of lactation.

1. In both average and maximum rates of flow the breeds ranked from high to low as follows: Holstein, Jersey, Ayrshire and Guernsey, with the greater differences occurring between the Holsteins and the other three breeds.
   
2. In machine time the Holsteins and Jerseys were similar, with both breeds milking out significantly faster than the Ayrshires and Guernseys, in that order.
   

Statistically significant differences in the speed of milk withdrawal were obtained between daughters of sires within a breed, indicating that this is an inherited characteristic.

From 432 milkings of 48 cows during the early, middle and late stages of lactation, it is concluded that both the milk flow rate and the time required to milk decline during the lactation period. The average machine time decreased about 24 per cent from early to mid-lactation and about 32 per cent from early to late lactation.

¹ Contribution no. 199, from the Department of Dairy Husbandry and no. 91, Office of the Director. This work was supported by Babson Bros. Co., Chicago, Illinois.

² The data contained in this publication are a part of the data in a thesis presented by the senior author to the Graduate School of Cornell University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.