Milking is the final step in the milk production process on the farm. Regardless of the setup - parlor, tie stall, or otherwise - proper milking procedures are crucial to ensure food safety, milk quality, and cow health.
Stimulation of milk letdown (10-20 seconds): Optimal milk letdown requires 10-20 seconds of stimulation, including wiping the teats and cleaning off dirt and manure. The most effective stimulation is for stripping each teat, allowing for the detection of mastitis symptoms such as flakes, clots, or off-color milk. Failure to let down milk properly can result in teat damage and increased mastitis risk due to excessive machine pulsation.
Contact with teat dip (30 seconds): A 30-second contact time with teat dip is ideal for killing bacteria on the teat surface. Before dipping, cleaning off dirt, manure, and bedding is essential to ensure full skin contact. Consistent and complete teat coverage is key for mastitis control. The White Towel Test can help ensure proper dipping: wrap a clean paper towel around the teat base after dipping, blot the dip, and check for a full, singular blot on the towel, indicating proper coverage.
Prep Lag time (60-120 seconds): The goal for prep lag time is 1-2 minutes from initial teat contact to milking machine application. This time should be shorter for cows milked twice a day than for those milked three times a day. In a parlor setting, prepping four cows at a time can achieve the proper prep lag time if stimulation and contact times are consistent. In stall barns, an end-of-milking indicator can help organize the milking routine.
Time after milking for teat muscle closure (30 minutes): Post-milking, the teat sphincter muscle takes 30 minutes to close, and the post-dip also needs 30 minutes to dry. If a cow lies down before this, bacteria can enter the teat, leading to infection. Proper post-milking teat dipping and allowing the dip to dry can prevent 50% of new mastitis infections. Keeping cows standing for 30 minutes post-milking by providing fresh feed or pushing up feed can help achieve this.
By adhering to these timing guidelines, farms can ensure better milk quality, cow health, and overall farm productivity.
At Cattle Care, we're dedicated to helping our customers run the most efficient and effective milking operations. To that end, we regularly measure a comprehensive set of milking timings, including:
- Loading time
- Bacteria kill time
- Stimulation time
- Prep lag
- Attach time
- Milking time
- Turn time
In addition, we also analyze the order in which milking units were attached during the milking process.
By closely monitoring all of these key metrics, we're able to provide our customers with the widest possible coverage of information to help them optimize the performance of their milking parlor.
Do you want to know more? Book a free demo for your farm!
(* the timings are recommended by the University of Minnesota)
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