Evaluation of on-farm labour saving strategies for optimisation of herd size that could be managed by one operator

End of project reportAlternative milking frequencies Once a day (OAD) milking throughout lactation of a herd (over 2 years, incorporating 24% heifers) resulted in loss in milk solids (MS) production of 17% per cow. Milking cows OAD in their 1st lactation does not adversely impact on milk production in the second lactation, when changed to twice a day (TAD) milking but may lead to a higher mastitis incidence. Changeover in milking frequency in mid lactation resulted in a similar yield of MS per cow for TAD milking for the full lactation (474 kg) and the TAD OAD group (TAD for the first 110 days and OAD for the remainder of the lactation) (469 kg). Thirteen times weekly milking in late lactation (omitting the Sunday evening milking) compared to twice daily milking every day had no effect on milk yield or composition and maximum SCC observed during the trial was 270x103 cells/ml. Once daily milking did not adversely affect the processability of milk. Once daily milking did not significantly increase milk SCC levels. Alternative calf rearing systems The improved efficiency increased herd size may be due to less use of buckets for calf feeding together with more frequent use of teat feeding from a container, automatic feeders and ad libitum feeding A study on OAD calf feeding (whole milk) demonstrated that calves can be reared with a OAD milk feeding system and weaned early (42 days) without adversely affecting performance There was no difference in the live-weight gain of calves on once daily feeding, twice daily feeding or once daily feeding going outdoors after 28 days Calf liveweight gain was greater with once daily feeding with milk replacer compared to once daily feeding with whole milk or once daily feeding with milk replacer going outdoors after 28 days Economic analysis of alternative milking systems When deciding on the type, size and level of technology in the milking parlour, the trade-off between labour requirement and cost and the initial capital investment requirement should be key in making the decision

Farm Facilities On Small - Medium Type Dairy Farms.

End of Project ReportProspect 2000 Action-Research Dairy Project82 % of farms with milk quota < 54,552 litres have bucket/pipeline milking plants. • There were a high percentage of milking machine faults on the farms surveyed. • Fragmented land portions are more likely to limit dairy expansion than farm size. • 60% of farms had beef buildings suitable for conversion to dairy housing • 88 % of farms had adequate cubicle spaces for present cow numbers • The cost of purchasing milk quota was considered to be the biggest factor restricting expansion. • 67 % of farms with quota > 54,552 litres are joined REPS. • 51 % of farms had dairies registered under dairy hygiene regulations. • Milk bulk tank size would limit dairy expansion without investment in larger static tanks. • The number of cows to fill milk quota is better matched in the higher quota category. • The length of the working day was 12.7 hrs/day for an average herd size of 23 cows. • Estimated cost of extra facilities per farm to allow for scaling up in milk production from 90,920-181,840 litres is £33,76

Evaluation of Milking Systems in Terms of Mastitis Risk, Teat Tissue Reactions & Milking Performance.

End of Project ReportsMeasurements of milking vacuum recorded on a flow simulator can provide guidelines for optimum design of milking units. • Increasing the bore of the short milk tube above the recommended diameter or claw volume above 150ml does not improve milking efficiency. • Increasing the long milk-tube bore from 13.5mm to 16mm increased the level of milking vacuum. • The milking vacuum was highest with wide-bore tapered liners and simultaneous pulsation. • The minimum vacuum was increased with narrow-bore liners and alternate pulsation. • The milk yield with wide-bore tapered liners in heavy 3-kg clusters and using simultaneous pulsation was 5% higher than with light clusters (1.65 kg) with alternate pulsation. • The milk yield depressions obtained with light clusters were similar in short and long term experiments and increased with the magnitude of the milk yield per milking. • The teat condition scores were not affected by the magnitude of vacuum fluctuations

Effect of pre-milking teat disinfection on new mastitis infection rates of dairy cows

peer-reviewedBackground The practise of teat disinfection prior to cluster attachment for milking is being adopted by farmers in Ireland, particularly where there are herd issues with new infection rates. Pre-milking teat disinfection has been shown to reduce bacterial numbers on teat skin and to be most effective against environmental bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Streptococcus uberis. A split udder design experiment was undertaken on two research herds (A = 96 cows: B = 168 cows) to test the benefit of pre-milking teat disinfection on new mastitis infection levels. The disinfectant was applied to the left front and right hind teats of all cows in each herd and the right front and left hind teats received no disinfectant treatment prior to milking over a complete lactation. Individual quarter foremilk samples were taken on 5 occasions during the lactation and all clinical cases were recorded. The presence and number of staphylococcus and streptococcus bacteria on teat skin of a random sample of experimental cows (n = 20) was measured on 3 occasions during lactation (April, June, and October). Results Pre-milking teat disinfection had no significant impact on quarter SCC and new infection rates (P > 0.05). The median SCC was 169 (95% CI = 144–198) × 103 cells/mL and 170 (95% CI = 145–199) × 103 cells/mL for disinfected teats and non-disinfected teats, respectively. There were no differences in SCC observed between herds (A = 161 (95% CI = 127–205) × 103 cells/mL; B = 169 (95% CI = 144–198) × 103 cells/mL) over the complete lactation. Bacterial levels on teat skin were reduced significantly with pre-milking teat disinfection compared to teats receiving no disinfectant (P < 0.001). Total infections (clinical and sub-clinical) were similar for disinfected teats (n = 36) and not disinfected teats (n = 40), respectively. Staphylococcus aureus (n = 47) and Strep. uberis (n = 9) were identified as the predominant bacteria in quarter foremilk samples with both clinical and sub-clinical infections. Conclusion SCC and new infection rates were similar in non-disinfected teats and disinfected (pre-milking) teats. The routine application of pre-milking teat disinfectant in pasture-grazed herds is unlikely to be of benefit where herd SCC is below 200 × 103 cells/mL

Effect of omitting teat preparation on bacterial levels in bulk tank milk

peer-reviewedThe objective of this study was to investigate the effect of omitting teat preparation prior to milking on the bacterial levels in milk directly after milking and after a period of milk storage. Eighty Holstein–Friesian dairy cows were assigned to two pre-milking teat preparation treatments: (i) washing of teats and drawing of foremilk, followed by drying with paper towels and (ii) no teat preparation. Individual cow measurements included individual quarter somatic cell count (SCC) and teat swabs for the presence of Bacillus cereus sensu lato. On seven monthly occasions, all milk produced over a 24 h period from each treatment group was segregated into a separate tank and sampled. Sub-samples of this milk were stored at 4 °C for 0, 24, 48 and 72 h, and the milk was analysed for total bacterial count (TBC), thermoduric bacterial count and the presence of B. cereus s. I. Individual quarter SCCs were numerically higher for unprepared teats (159,000 cells/mL) compared with those for prepared teats (133,000 cells/mL; P < 0.09). A similar trend was observed for bulk tank SCC, with the unprepared teat treatment tending to have a higher SCC (155,857 cells/mL) compared to the prepared teat treatment (102,286 cells/mL; P< 0.09). The TBC was not significantly higher from unprepared teats (3,152 cfu/ mL) compared with milk from prepared teats (1,678 cfu/mL) (P< 0.10). Milk TBC was significantly higher after storage for 72 h compared with that after 0, 24 and 48 h (P< 0.01). The results of this study indicate that under good hygienic conditions in an outdoor grazing situation, the omission of pre-milking teat preparation has a minimal effect on TBC and SCC

The earth's climate at the end of the century

Local climate is dependent on the global climate. Here, a global picture on climate change is presented using predictions from the EC-Earth simulations for the end of the century. The results indicate a general rise in annual mean temperature everywhere: 2-4 degrees (global average), 1-6 degrees (over Europe) and 1-4 degrees (Ireland). Changes in precipitation are more varied: large increases (>100%) at high northern latitudes and in the equatorial Pacific but decreases of more than 50% over the subtropics; winters in Europe are predicted to be up to 20% wetter and summers up to 20% drier. Changes in extremes are also presented in this chapter

Labour efficiency on-farm

End of project reportImprovements in milking efficiency have a greater influence than any other aspect of the dairy farmers work on overall farm labour inputs (Whipp, 1992). In order to facilitate the examination of milking process labour inputs, the milking process may be divided into the following three components: herding pre and post milking (transfer of cows to and from the milking parlour); milking (milking tasks / work routines within the parlour); and washing (washing of milking machine and yard). Meanwhile, within milking specifically, the number of cows milked per operator per hour is the best measure of both the performance of the operator and the milking installation (Clough, 1978). This is affected by the following three factors: the milking times of the cows, the number and arrangement of the milking units, and the operator’s work routine (Whipp, 1992). The addition of extra milking units will only increase milking performance if the operator has idle time during milking (Hansen, 1999)

Asymmetry of balance responses to monaural galvanic vestibular stimulation in subjects with vestibular schwannoma

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the potential of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) to quantify lateralised asymmetry of the vestibulospinal pathways by measuring balance responses to monaural GVS in 10 subjects with vestibular schwannoma and 22 healthy control subjects. METHODS: Subjects standing without vision were stimulated with 3s, 1mA direct current stimuli delivered monaurally. The mean magnitude and direction of the evoked balance responses in the horizontal plane were measured from ground-reaction forces and from displacement and velocity of the trunk. Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) to 500Hz air and bone-conducted tones were also recorded. RESULTS: In healthy subjects, the magnitudes of the force, velocity and displacement responses were not significantly different for left compared to right ear stimulation. Their individual asymmetry ratios were always <30%. Subjects with vestibular schwannoma had significantly smaller force, velocity and displacement responses to stimulation of the affected compared with non-affected ear. Their mean asymmetry ratios were significantly elevated for all three measures (41.2±10.3%, 40.3±15.1% and 21.9±14.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Asymmetry ratios of balance responses to monaural GVS provide a quantitative and clinically applicable lateralising test of the vestibulospinal pathways. SIGNIFICANCE: This method offers a more clinically relevant measure of standing balance than existing vestibular function tests which assess only vestibuloocular and vestibulocollic pathways

A study of factors affecting the efficiency of milking operations.

End of Project ReportWith a mid-level milking system the milking time was reduced significantly when the teat end vacuum was increased • Vacuum losses were lower and milking time was shorter with simultaneous pulsation than with alternate pulsation • Milk yield was not affected by the magnitude of teat end vacuum. • Both the mean flowrate and peak flowrate increased when the teat end vacuum was increased. • New milking plants and conversions should have 16 mm bore long milk tubes (LMT) and 16 mm bore entries in the milk pipeline • The omission of udder washing as a pre-milking preparation procedure did not influence milking characteristics. • TBC and E. coli were significantly reduced with full pre-milking preparation compared to no pre-milking preparation when milk was produced from cows on pasture • Counts for individual bacterial species were well below maximum numbers permitted in EU Council Directive (Anon. 1992) when no pre-milking preparation was carried out