Adaptability of milking clusters to different udder formations in different milking systems

Abstract

One important reason for udder damage may be the milk- ing equipment, especially wrong positioning of the milk- ing unit, leading to the teats being pulled by different forces. For this reason the German Agricultural Society has developed a test machine, making it possible to meas- ure four forces at the teats. To examine the influence of the resulting forces caused by different udder formations and differences between the milking systems, two udder formations were tested using different makes of automatic milking systems (AMS) and conventional milking systems (CMS). Wrong positioning of teat cups was ascertained in both systems. In CMS this was influenced mainly by the type of milking parlour and the type of support arms, and in AMS mainly by single tube guiding.