Studies on pre-milking preparation 9. A comparison of 3 methods of pre-milking preparation

Abstract

Three pre-milking preparation procedures were compared using 36 sets of monozygotic twin cows (Jersey, Friesian, and Friesian — Jersey crossbred), and 1 set of Friesian monozygotic triplets in the 1977–78 season. The trial design combined a control system and 2 stimulus treatments, with an average duration of 208 days. One of the treatments was a repeat of that applied in a previous study in this series (Phillips 1986b) and consisted of stepped levels of manual pre-milking stimulus which increased during lactation. The second treatment used the same stepped levels of stimulus except that the stimulus was applied at each 3rd, 4th, or 5th milking. When adjusted for calving date there were no significant differences in production for any of the Treatment group comparisons or any of the breed subgroup comparisons.

Keywords:

• milk yield
• lactation
• milk production
• milking
• cows
• dairy cattle