Get back to basics for parlour efficiency
Nothing hits staff morale more in the parlour than when milking times drag on longer than they should, yet many producers could be compromising time efficiency and milk hygiene by failing to go back to basics.
According to the 2012 National Mastitis Survey, nearly a quarter of dairy farmers go to the trouble of disinfecting clusters, yet one in eight don’t practice the much less time-consuming task of putting on milking gloves.
Bacteria has a higher survival rate on human skin than on the smooth surface of gloves, which means that potential mastitis-causing bugs can be introduced into the parlour on hands and spread from cow to cow.
So what is best practice for milking? Mastitis expert Andrew Biggs, of the Vale Veterinary Group, Tiverton, says it is not possible to be totally prescriptive, but hygiene, routine, calmness and timing are all key factors.
Hygiene
Cows should be kept clean, but this can be a challenge, particularly during periods of wet weather.
There are many factors that influence cow cleanliness including management of environment and nutrition. Mr Biggs says cow environment will generally differ from summer to winter with bedding hygiene and management, ventilation and scraping important in winter. Attention should be given to the management of gateways, tracks and pasture during summer.
| Case study |
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| Stephen Radford, Buttermoor farm, Tiverton |
| Improving the milking routine at Buttermoor Farm, Tiverton, has significantly reduced cases of mastitis. The mastitis level in Stephen Radford’s herd of 170 Holsteins had been running at 35 cases for every 100 cows, but since changes were implemented it is down to 19 cases for every 100 cows. Mr Radford made the alterations after a DairyCo Farm Audit with vet Andrew Biggs, which revealed weaknesses in the milking routine. Although he wore gloves to prevent bacteria being introduced into the parlour, there was a time lag between cows being wiped and units being applied ranging from 15sec to 4min. “The cows didn’t know whether the unit was going on or not so they didn’t know whether to let their milk down. Equally we had cows standing for several minutes having had their units removed by the ACRs, but we were not post-milking spraying them until the whole row was finished,” recalls Mr Radford, who farms with his son Graham. All units are now applied within 60sec of teats being wiped. Cows are pre-sprayed in groups of five. “We try to keep the routine the same all the time. We post-spray within 15sec of the units coming off, before the teat ends close up,” Mr Radford explained. Cell counts had been up to 200,000cells/ml but that figure is now as low as 100,000 cells/ml. The 10:20 swingover parlour is tested every six months and the liners changed after every 2,500 milkings. And Mr Radford keeps the cows as clean as possible. “If they arrive in the parlour clean then that is half the battle won,” he says. To keep cows clean in the cubicles he has automatic scrapers in the passageways and mattresses in the stalls. Lime is applied twice a day and in the morning it is topped with sawdust. |
“We also know that faecal consistency influences cow cleanliness, so optimising the diet, whether that be buffer feeding at pasture or ensuring a high quality TMR is being fed to avoid diarrhoea, will also have a part to play in reducing mastitis,” says Mr Biggs.
Teat disinfection
Teats should be kept clean and disinfected before and after milking, he adds. “Clean cows certainly reduce the risk of mastitis, but as we are producing food, we do need to make sure the teat is clean; if it isn’t clean enough to go in your mouth it isn’t clean enough to be milked.”
Best practice is to use a pre-milking teat disinfection process to optimise the hygienic quality of the milk harvested.
Bacteria can be spread from cow to cow and between quarters as well as from other sources to the teat surface during milking. Post milking teat disinfection is therefore a critical control point in any mastitis control programme.
Spraying or dipping
Conventional wisdom dictates that dipping is more effective because coverage tends to be better, but the real secret is cover all of the teat, on every teat, every milking, every day of the year – that will go a long way to effectively disinfecting teats, believes Mr Biggs.
“It is possible to wave the spray wand in the general direction of the teat and get some coverage. If spraying is used then have a routine, for example moving the spray wand in a figure of eight fashion to ensure good coverage, and stick to this.”
There are many products on the market with different active ingredients and formulations. But when choosing a disinfectant be aware of the balance between the disinfectant chemical – which kills bugs but can have a negative effect on teat condition – and the teat conditioning effects of emollients and humectants, such as lanolin or glycerine, which reduce the effectiveness of the teat disinfectant.
Milking machine
The parlour and milking machine must be clean at all times and this can be achieved by frequently washing down floors, stall-work and walls during milking as well as at the end.
The milking machine, in particular the cluster and liner, come into contact with the cow and therefore play an important role in mastitis. “Cleaning the milking clusters during milking to remove any faecal contamination is as important as cleaning the milking parlour inside and out at the end of milking to remove contamination and potential mastitis pathogens accumulated during the milking process,” Mr Biggs explains.
People milking the cows must also be clean. Best practice includes wearing gloves. “This also makes frequent washing of hands and equipment throughout the milking process a less harrowing experience on a freezing morning in February,” Mr Biggs suggests.
“Wearing an apron or milking gown, and maybe milking sleeves, can both help the person milking to keep clean and make it easier for them to be cleaned.”
Milking routine
Cows need a regular routine they expect and can respond to. They are just like us and don’t like change, so aim to keep things as similar as possible at every milking, stresses Mr Biggs.
Calmness
“Cows don’t respond well to noisy, stressful parlours with barking dogs and shouting operatives.
“I see a lot of milking parlours in action and you can tell when things are going to go well. Quiet and relaxed milkers make for happy, stress-free milking.”
Timing
The key to effective milking is synchronising the flow of cisternal and alveoar milk, Mr Biggs explains. The cisternal milk is the “free” milk, just above the teat, which is easy to milk out. This needs to be followed immediately by the alveoar milk stored in the secretory tissue higher in the udder, which will only be released by the action of oxytocin.
“To get these two types of milk synchronised requires the appropriate preparation and stimulation of the cow,” says Mr Biggs. “In round terms, cows need a time lag between the first touch and the unit going on of about 60-90sec.
“Too short and the cow isn’t ready and won’t let anything other than her cisternal milk down; too long and the oxytocin stops working. Either way you get stop-start milking with a slow start and dribble finish resulting in bimodal flow and long unit on time with more low-flow milking time and a greater risk of new infections.” (See graph.)
To optimise milking routine Mr Biggs advises farmers to get their vet to conduct a time and motion study to get all cows close to the 60-90sec lag time at every milking.
“Farmers need to know how a cow’s milk let-down ‘works’ and work with her. A video camera can be very useful for this and is certainly a lot easier than the old clipboard-and-stopwatch approach we used to use. This may mean dividing up the parlour and only preparing enough cows so that the unit can be put on the first cow within 60-90sec.
“If some cows wait only 20sec and others 2-3min, and I see that regularly, how can a cow cope when she is the 20sec cow on a Monday morning and the 3min cow on the Monday afternoon? There is no way she can learn when to release her oxytocin to let her milk down.”
Read how incorrect liner size could be hitting milk let-down times