Two studies published in the Journal of Dairy Science evaluated the performance efficiency of automatic milking systems in North American dairy farms. In the first study, researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison surveyed 635 dairy farms with robotic milking located mainly in Minnesota and Wisconsin, southern Ontario and lower Quebec. Management practices on these dairies included:
- Traffic type: free traffi c (93.2%) versus forced: (6.8%).
- Robots per pen: 1 (55.8%), 2 (39.3%), +3 (4.91%).
- Breed: Holstein (89.4%), Jerseys (2.8%), other (7.8%).
- Facility: new (50.3%), retrofit (49.7%).
In summary, average performance was:
- Milk production per cow: 72 lb. per day.
- Cows per robot: 50.5.
- Milk production per robot: 3,666.8 lb.per day.
- Concentrate consumed in the robot: 11.4 lb per day.
- Concentrate refused in the robot: 7.7%
- Milkings per cow: 2.9 per day.
- Nonmilking visits per cow: 1.9 per day.
- Failed milkings per robot: 5.5 per day.
- Milk flow: 5.84 lb. per minute.
- Minutes in the robot: 6.8.
Canadian researchers analyzed a data set collected from 41 commercial Canadian dairy farms with robotic milking systems.
Here is a data summary of robot and cow performance:
- Milk production per cow: 76.0 lb. per day.
- Cows per robot: 49.4.
- Milk production per robot: 3,707 lb. per day.
- Milkings per cow: 3.0 per day.
- Involuntary milkings: 10.4% per day.
- Fetched cows: 8.1% per day. SCC: 236 × 1,000 cells/mL.
Continue reading this article published in Milk.
