WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM HEIFERS MILKED IN ROBOTS

A few years ago, a farmer told me they liked their robots but they weren’t sure robots were the best way to milk heifers. They were disappointed with the milk yield. Another farmer told me he moved an 80-pound fresh heifer from the parlor to the robots and within 3 weeks that heifer was over 130 pounds. The Dairy Records Management Systems average for first lactation heifers, from 1-40 days in milk (DIM), is 70 pounds per day. 95% of the heifers in that data set averaged between 48 and 92 pounds. That’s quite a range. Where do your heifers fit? Where would you like them to fit? What do you expect from your heifers? What can you do about it?

The biggest difference between those 2 scenarios was milking frequency. Heifers on the farm with lower heifer performance were milked about 2 times a day, at that time. The 130-pound heifer was milked 2 times a day in the parlor, and 6 times a day in the robots. It probably was not necessary to milk her 6 times a day, but recent research comparing all lactation groups shows the importance of milking frequency. * Milking frequency had 5 times more impact on early lactation milk yield than the next closest variable.

The retrospective study compared cows from all lactation groups that were milking at least 3 times daily by 21 DIM to those that were not. The research generated a model that predicted that 3X cows would make 6 pounds more milk per day than cows that milked less than 3X. Records were reviewed from 22 to 150 DIM. The difference between the 3X cows and the less than 3X cows for the whole period was 775 pounds. The dataset shown in the graph is average yield and milkings from 12 herds that were not part of the research. Each point represents one herd. It shows the same trend for more yield with more early milkings. There are many factors that contribute to achieving 3 milkings by 21 DIM. Three of the most important are teaching heifers to use the robots, making robots available, keeping transition cows healthy.

Most heifers will figure out how to use the robot on their own by about 150 DIM. By that time their peak production and total production for the lactation has already been determined. Heifers will learn more quickly if they are brought to the robot three times a day for the first week in the barn. That doesn’t have to be every 8 hours, but it does have to be every day. Bring them to the robot first thing in the morning, middle of the day, and last thing in the evening.

Milk access, or milking permission has to give preference to fresh cows so that robots are available. If the robots are milking at capacity, milk access has to allow more milkings for

fresh cows so they can be milked more frequently than their later lactation herd mates. People focus on the late lactation cow that is not milked when she does not have access, and worry that she won’t come back. We should prioritize the early lactation cows and make sure that later lactation cows don’t deny them access to the robot.

Cows that transition successfully will have better appetites, move around the barn more, and present more opportunities to be milked. Simply stated, transition cows need more bunk space, fresher feed, better ventilation, and more comfortable beds than any other cow in your herd.

I can help evaluate early lactation milking frequency in your herd. And I can help monitor your progress towards the gold standard of 3 milkings by 21 DIM.

*Early Lactation Milking Frequency and Its Impact on Milk Yield in Automatic Milking Systems – Dr. Charles Nicholson, Associate Professor, Department of Animal & Dairy Sciences and Agricultural & Applied Economics, UW-Madison – Jalyssa Beaudry, Graduate Student, Agriculture and Applied Economics, UW-Madison https://mediasiteconnect.com/site/pdpw-dairy-signal/watch/29b7c825-a807-459d-7d28-08dd81004f23