Cow brush.

A cow brush is nice for a cow but where does it hang? Does it still function properly? It is easily accessible for any cow without any constrictions? Think about the dominant cow that take ownership of all the available space. In Denmark there is a law requiring 1 brush per 50 cows!

Are you going to let the cows graze? Then please read the tip from May of last year. Are the flies starting to lay eggs again? Have you taken proper measures? (Tip of the Month April 2015)

Milking after incomplete milking.

When a cow isn’t milked properly by a milking robot, giving 50% less than expected, she’ll have the “Milkpermission” to be milked sooner. The standard setting is set to 0 hours/minutes meaning that the cow can get milked immediately after the initial milking.

In practice, it often results in more incomplete milkings. That is why we advise to milk after an incomplete session no sooner than 2-4 hours, depending on the company’s average production per day. For example: if you milk, on average, 30 liters per day you could set the setting to 2 hours. However, if you milk less (20 liters), then set it to 4 hours.

There’s more: In the list under “Milking Info”: “Milking Performance” it is possible to sort cows on the amount of incomplete milkings (second to last column). Then the cows at the top of the list have the most incomplete millkings. It is advised to increase this possibility by a couple of hours or even turn it off for this cow!
Especially in the case that the cow has more than 3 milkings a day, and too many incomplete.
This can be adjusted on her Cowcard by “AMS Settings” in Milk Permission => Milking Conditions.

Or does she have only three good milking teats?
Or is a different setting better?

The 2 minute check follow up

The first three columns of the 2-minute-check in the status screen show which cow:
1. is too late; 2. has not given enough milk; 3. has done an incomplete milking.

Most are obvious and are used by ample amount of farmers.

The cow monitor shows other information such as which cow:
1. has higher or new conductivity; 2. have a high or new(!) MDi alert

Also these statistics give are generally welcomed by farmers en used to follow a cows health.

The third colom in the cow monitor that is used for the 2-Minute-Check shows:
3. which cow has varying visiting behavior.
That can be seen in the Average Milking Interval

If you sort the cows by using this colom then the cows that visit most often can be found at the top or bottom. If the indicator beside it is green it means that the cow has visited the VMS the last 10 times with no more than 12 hours in between.

What should be noted is cows that have an good average milking interval (e.g. 8 – 9 hours) yet have a red indicator. This means that she now was  later  than 12 hours since the last milking. Why?

Have these cows been milking for less than 50 days   =>  Rumen Acedosis?
Have these cows been milking between 50-100 days  =>  Heat?
Have these cows been milking more than 100 days     => Claw / hoof / leg problems?

It could be anything, but it is defintley strange behavior!

Also in this column is often as the first indicator a cow found with a new deviation.

2 Minutes-Check Follow-Up.

With the 2 minute follow up check you quickly see which cows are late but also which cows have an unexpected deviation. It is useful to make two columns on a notepad. One for cows that need to be brought to the VMS and another for cows with the unexpected deviation. Also, add which deviation they have. (For example 75% of expected milking yield or 1x increased conductivity).

Does the cow have a different, less,  milk yield on all 4 teats? She is pretty sure sick!

Check these notes again half a day later. What does the cow have now?

If the latest data is correct again: throw the note away. When in doubt, you immediately are certain whether the deviation is an incident or if something is really going on!

2-Minute-Check

As a reflection for the new year, attention is again paid to the “2-Minute-Check”.

The amount of data a milking robot delivers is crucial in order to find cows earlier with varying milk production, (udder)health status and behavior e.g. than in a traditional milking parlor.

This delivers, simultaneously with the possibility to intervene quicker, advantages for cows and farmer.

During a company visit, often the 2-Minute-Check document is left behind. It consists of 2x 3 important columns.

In the Status screen: 1) Who is too late;  2) Who’s given too little; 3) Who wasn’t milked properly or incomplete.

In the Cowmonitor: 1) Which cows have high or new increase conductivity; 2) Which cows have a high or new MDI notification;  3) Which cows have a different visit history behavior?

You can check these measurements and if you as dairyman know your cows you can tell which cows are correlated to previously statistics and more interesting: which are surprising you!

Do this 2-Minute-Check before you make a round to the barn, go clean boxes, etc.

Combining the data from the computer with “the eyes of the farmer” and you have the GOLDEN FORMULA.

At the Tip of the Month February and also March follows further explanation of the 2-Minute-Check.

If you like to get the document with 2-Minute-Check, please send an email.