Robot milking and relationship with culling rate in dairy cows

Robot milking and relationship with culling rate in dairy cows

Cow routines and behavioral responses are altered substantially following the installation of robot milking. The present study was designed to analyze the effect that switching from milking parlor to automatic milking system (AMS) had on the culling rate (due to various causes) of dairy cattle. For...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal (Cambridge, England) Vol. 13; no. 6; pp. 1304 - 1310
Main Authors: Bugueiro, A., Fouz, R., Camino, F., Yus, E., Diéguez, F. J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-06-2019
Elsevier Limited
Elsevier
Subjects:
Amortization
Animals
automatic milking systems
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - mortality
causes for loss
Cox regression
Culling
dairies
Dairy cattle
Dairy farming
Dairy farms
Dairying - economics
Dairying - instrumentation
Farms
Female
Fertility
Infertility
Installation
Lactation
Milk
Milking
Research Article
Robotics - economics
Robotics - statistics & numerical data
Robots
Spain - epidemiology
Studies
survival analysis
Switching
Udder
Welfare, Behaviour and Health Management
Spain
causes for loss
dairies
Cox regression
survival analysis
automatic milking systems
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Summary:Cow routines and behavioral responses are altered substantially following the installation of robot milking. The present study was designed to analyze the effect that switching from milking parlor to automatic milking system (AMS) had on the culling rate (due to various causes) of dairy cattle. For this purpose, culling records and causes for culling were tracked in 23 dairy farms in the Galicia region (NW Spain). The animals in these farms were monitored for 5 years. For the present study, that length of time was divided into three different stages, as follows: 2 years before switching from a milking parlor to AMS (stage 1), the 1st year following the implementation of AMS (stage 2) and the 2nd and 3rd years succeeding the implementation of AMS (stage 3). Cox models for survival analysis were used to estimate the time to culling due to different reasons during stage 1 in relation to stages 2 and 3. The data indicated that the risk of loss due to death or emergency slaughter decreased significantly following the installation of AMS. In contrast, the risk of culling due to low production, udder problems, infertility or lameness increased significantly. Low-production cows (such as cows in advanced lactation due to infertility) or sick cows (such as mastitic or lame cows) allegedly have a noticeable effect both on the performance and the amortization of the cost of AMS, which in turn would lead to a higher probability of elimination than in conventional systems.
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ISSN:1751-7311
1751-732X
DOI:10.1017/S1751731118002896