N. Livshin*1, E. Maltz1, M. Tinsky2 and E. Aizinbud1, 1Agriculture Research Organization, Volcani Center, PO Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel Israel; 2S.A.E. Afikim, kibbutz Afikim, Israel.
Proper milking is prerequisite for proper cow’s performance. This work’s objective was to relate the initial milk flow rate in first 15s of milking (FR15s) with the selected subsequent milk let-down parameters: peak flow rate, percent of milk at first 2 min, and mean flow rate of milking. The analysis was performed for 7140 milkings during 5 consecutive days in 14X2 herring bone parlor, where an average of 476 Holstein cows were milked thrice daily using Afiflo system (S.A.E. Afikim). The milkings were divided, according to FR15s, into 3921 low initial flow (≤1 kg/min, LIF) and 3219 higher initial flow (>1 kg/min, HIF) groups. The analysis showed that let-down values, including FR15s, had strong positive correlation with milking yield. Hence, each of selected milk let-down parameters was computed for LIF vs. HIF milkings of the same yield interval. In different milk yield intervals, the peak flow, milk 2 min percent, and mean flow rate in HIF were higher than in LIF: 37.2-55.2% (mean 51.0%), 29.5-56.5% (mean 33.0%), and 11.4-45.0% (mean 29.2%), relatively. These differences between LIF and HIF milkings were significant (P<0.001) in all yield intervals. It is suggested that FR15s can serve as an important indication for efficiency of the whole milk let-down process.
