Milking is a central task in dairy farming, not just for productivity but also for animal welfare. It’s the most frequent direct interaction between cows and humans, and any stress or discomfort during milking can significantly reduce milk yield. This reduction is often linked to chronic pain from diseases like mastitis, injuries, or stress during the milking process.
Automatic milking systems have become common and are generally seen as comparable to conventional methods in terms of cow welfare. However, routine care tasks, such as cleaning and disinfecting teats and maintaining equipment, remain essential for ensuring good welfare during milking.
Stress significantly impacts milk production by inhibiting oxytocin, the hormone responsible for milk ejection. Factors like social isolation, unfamiliar environments, or fear of people can lead to stress, causing cows to hold back milk. The presence of a harsh handler—someone who moves suddenly, shouts, or slaps the cows—can drastically reduce milk yield. Studies show that farms with the most productive cows are those where stockpersons engage positively with the animals, talking and touching them gently. This approach reduces fearfulness, making cows more cooperative and less prone to injury.
Behavioral indicators like stepping, kicking, defecation, and vocalization can reveal welfare issues during milking. Stepping indicates general discomfort or fear, while kicking often signals pain from teat lesions or discomfort from milking equipment. Defecation, urination, and vocalization, particularly in new or isolated settings, indicate acute stress. Interestingly, a good human-animal relationship, marked by positive interactions, can reduce these stress behaviors, highlighting the importance of gentle handling in improving both cow welfare and milk production.
Cattle Care has created a video analytics tool that helps control how proper handling is used in the holding area and how the handling process is conducted in the parlor during milking. Using existing cameras, the Cattle Care Animal Welfare (AW) solution helps catch cases of improper handling, provides personalized training for employees, and tracks progress.
As our client Brenda Elsinger told us, "My cows are very calm, and that is because of the system and the retraining I did." (Read more about Brenda’s experience with Cattle Care).
Try the Cattle Care AW product - book a free demo and see how we can upgrade the way you manage your parlor.
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