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Once-daily milking of dairy cows: a review of recent French experiments

2005; EDP Sciences; Volume: 54; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1051/animres

1627-3591

Bernard Rémond, Dominique Pomiès,

Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock

Once-daily milking (ODM) implemented in the declining phase of lactation for up to at least 10 weeks reduced milk yield by 20-30%, according to the trial, from the first day.Milk loss (%) exhibited a high between-cow variability and was unrelated to the milk yield (kg) of the cows.When twice-daily milking (TDM) was resumed, milk yield recovered completely following implementation of ODM for a few days, but reached only about 90% of the yield of TDM cows following implementation of ODM for 8-10 weeks.When implemented from calving, ODM had a progressively higher negative impact (a decrease of between 30 and 50%), which was more pronounced in primiparous cows than in multiparous cows.The residual loss (%), once TDM resumed, was generally higher than in the declining phase.When ODM was implemented during three successive lactations, there was no between-lactation effect.ODM increased fat and protein content in milk and decreased lactose content by an average 2.8, 1.5 and 1.5 g•L -1 , respectively.The casein/protein ratio was reduced (by 1.8% on average).Resumption of twice-daily milking cancelled these modifications within a few days.Protease activity in milk tended to increase, whereas lipase activity tended to decrease with ODM.Free fatty acid content was reduced significantly with ODM.Implementation of ODM did not significantly modify feed intake of the cows in the short term (up to 6-8 weeks), but tended to decrease it thereafter.The quality of cheese manufactured from TDM or ODM milks were similar.ODM implementation led to an improved nutritional status of the cows, as appreciated by changes of live weight, body condition score, or calculated energy balance.It also improved reproduction parameters.The cows adapted quickly to ODM (within a few days).ODM increased the somatic cell count in milk without impact on mastitis infection incidence in the short term.When implemented throughout lactation during which cows were partly in barn conditions, ODM increased mastitis infection incidence in 2 out of 3 trials.once-daily milking / cows / adaptation / performance / review