Differences in Voluntary Cow Traffic between Holstein and Illawarra Breeds of Dairy Cattle in a Pasture-based Automatic Milking System

Automatic milking systems (AMS) rely upon voluntary cow traffic (the voluntary movement of cattle around a farm) for milk harvesting and feed consumption. Previous research on conventional milking systems has shown differences between dairy cow breeds for intake and milk production, however, the abi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Animal bioscience Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 587 - 591
Main Authors:	Clark, C E F, Kwinten, N B P, van Gastel, D A J M, Kerrisk, K L, Lyons, N A, Garcia, S C
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Korea (South) Asian - Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies 01-04-2014 Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (AAAP) and Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology (KSAST) Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies 아세아·태평양축산학회
Subjects:	Automatic Milking System Breed Dairy cattle Food research Milk production Pastures Physiological aspects Voluntary Cow Traffic 축산학 Netherlands Voluntary Cow Traffic Automatic Milking System Breed
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Summary:	Automatic milking systems (AMS) rely upon voluntary cow traffic (the voluntary movement of cattle around a farm) for milk harvesting and feed consumption. Previous research on conventional milking systems has shown differences between dairy cow breeds for intake and milk production, however, the ability to manipulate voluntary cow traffic and milking frequency on AMS farms through breed selection is unknown. This study investigated the effect of breed (Holstein Friesian versus Illawarra) on voluntary cow traffic as determined by gate passes at the Camden AMS research farm dairy facility. Daily data on days in milk, milk yield, gate passes and milking frequency for 158 Holstein Friesian cows and 24 Illawarra cows were collated by month for the 2007 and 2008 years. Illawarra cows had 9% more gate passes/day than Holstein cows over the duration of the study; however, the milking frequency and milk yield of both breeds were similar. Gate passes were greatest for both breeds in early lactation and in the winter (June to August) and summer (December to February) seasons. These findings highlight an opportunity to translate increased voluntary cow movement associated with breed selection into increased milking frequencies, milk production and overall pasture-based AMS performance.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Dairy Science Group, The University of Sydney, Camden (2570), NSW, Australia http://www.ajas.info/Editor/manuscript/upload/AJAS_Apr2014_27_587.pdf G704-001112.2014.27.4.001
ISSN:	1011-2367 2765-0189 1976-5517 2765-0235
DOI:	10.5713/ajas.2013.13435