Disciplines : Zootechnie, Nutrition, qualité du lait
Mots-clés : Mammite, Comptage cellulaire, Alimentation, Traite robotisée, tarissement, lactation, vache laitière
Specific insight in the control mammary gland infections at a AMS farm
Milk quality in a dairy farm is defined by the number of intramammary infections and the cell counts of the milk per cow and in the bulk tank milk. It has been demonstrated that the milking process and the milking equipment have an important influence on the milk quality. Milking with AMS equipment differs from milking in the traditional milking parlour in several regards.
Firstly, the equipment: Four individual teat cups to milk one cow versus one milk cluster that integrates the four teat cups. Also, in a AMS system, one set of equipment is available per 65 cows, compared to one per 6 or 7 cows in a traditional milking parlour. Furthermore, also the pre- and postdipping procedures are automised. Finally, most importantly, in an AMS milking system, the cows decided themselves whether they are going to be milked or not: their health and mobility is essential for AMS milking to be a success.
AMS milking demands a different management from the farmer and the veterinarian. This article describes how to rapidly analyse an herd using AMS and the measures to apply to improve milk quality
Disciplines : Milk production, robot milking, milk quality, Nutrition
Key words : Mastitis, Cell count, Nutrition, AMS, Dry off, Lactation, Dairy cow