Cow crowding in waiting yard using mechanical drivers and its influence on productivity of rotary type milking equipment
Latvia University of Agriculture, Faculty of Engineering, Cakstes blvd.5, LV – 3001 Jelgava, Latvia; *Correspondence: maris.mangalis@inbox.lv
Abstract:
At present rotary type milking equipment is popular in Latvia. It is used almost on all farms where there are 400 and more cows. Nevertheless, the maximal productivity of work can be reached if the cows are continuously driven from the waiting yard to the milking equipment and if sufficient intensity of animal traffic is ensured. Therefore, the rotary type milking equipment is usually supplemented with a mechanical cow driver that crowds the cows in the waiting yard at the same time driving them towards the milking parlour.In the research it has been stated that using the heavy type mechanical cow drivers Cow Mander 640 or Cow Mander 740 the maximal cow crowding in the waiting yard reaches 1.1–1.2 m2 calculating per one cow and it ensures the cow traffic intensity 8–11 s cow-1. If, in turn, the medium heavy driver Cow Mander 015 is used, the cow crowding is only 1.5–1.7 m2 cow-1 and the cow traffic intensity reaches 15–23 s cow-1. Using rotary type milking equipment with 20–30 milking places such cow traffic intensity is sufficient but if the rotary milking equipment has 50 and more milking places the necessary cow traffic intensity cannot any more be ensured by increasing the cow crowding. Therefore, the exploitation work productivity of the rotary type milking equipment with 50 and more places is by 30–40% less than its technological productivity of work that is obtained by means of calculations.
Key words:
cow crowding, cow traffic intensity, mechanical cow drivers, productivity of work, rotary type milking equipment.