Assessment of dairy cow herd indices associated with different milking systems
¹Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Department of Production Management and Engineering, Nowoursynowska str. 164, PL02-787 Warsaw, Poland
²Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Technology, Fr.R. Kreutzwaldi 56, 51014 Tartu, Estonia
³Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Engineering, Kamycka 129, CZ16521 Prague 6, Czech Republic
⁴Latvia University of Agriculture, Faculty of Engineering, Cakstes blvd. 5, LV-3001 Jelgava, Latvia
*Correspondence: marek_gaworski@sggw.pl
Abstract:
The objective of the research was to find whether any differences exist between cattle herds operated by certain milking installations. The cattle herds were studied not only by herd size but also by certain data, like annual milk yield, age and number of lactations. Data collected on dairy farms that operate pipeline milking systems, milking parlours and automatic milking systems were analysed. These farms are situated in three Baltic States. The investigated Estonian dairy farms indicated a decreased tendency in the prevalence of disease cases for udder diseases with an increase in cow herd size. An index of cow production potential was proposed to compare different (including number of lactations) group of cows in dairy farms.
Key words:
AMS, cow herd, dairy production, milking parlour, pipeline milking system