Impact of milking settings optimization on milk quality, milking time and milk yield in Holstein cows

The aim of this work was to evaluate influence of milking settings optimization on milk yield (MY), milking time (MT), average milk flow (AMF) and somatic cell count (SCC). Pulsation ratio was changed from 60:40 to 63:37; pulsation rate from 60 to 62 pulses per minute; and critical milk flow for automatic cluster remover (CMF) was decreased from 0.85 to 0.65 kg.min^-1. Experiment was conducted on Holstein production herd (n=370) from March to May. SAS 9.3 was used for statistical evaluation. Changes significantly influenced all evaluated parameters (P <0.05). Slightly higher MY (+0.16 kg, P <0.05) was observed before changes. Naturally, the milking time was significantly prolonged (+0.26 min; P <0.01) by decreasing the CMF. This change also prolonged decline phase of milking, so the AMF was significantly reduced (-0.17 kg.min^-1, P <0.01). On the other hand, MT prolongation was not that critical due to increases in pulsation settings, which helped to reduce the negative influence of lower CMF on MT. Milking setting adjustments had positive effect on udder health, with significant drop in SCC (-64.78 thous./ml, P <0.01). In conclusion, milking settings adjustments are viable way of achieving various farm goals; like better udder health, less residual milk and many more.