SUMMARY

The principles for milking the high-producing cow are the same as for any other dairy cow: her teats should be clean and dry for milking; she should be milked gently, quickly and completely with minimal machine stripping or overmilking. However, these principles need to be applied in different ways because high-producing cows have: 1) a lower pre-milking stimulus requirement compared with low-producing cows, 2) higher peak milking rates and higher average flowrates (in spite of this, high producers take longer to milk), 3) poorer teat-end condition, 4) higher risk of new mastitis infections. Although less time and effort is needed for deliberate manual stimulation in high-producing herds, there is a progressively greater need for meticulous care and attention to ensure teats are clean and dry before milking to minimize the increased risk of mastitis. Healthy teat skin provides the best defence against all types of mastitis pathogens. Teat condition can be improved, and milking times per cow reduced by use of excellent milking procedures and adjusting the take-off settings of automatic detachers. The new performance-based ISO international standards for milking installations can be used, with confidence, to evaluate the “system ” components of existing milking systems. The results of milking-time tests (measurements or observations made while milking cows) are the best and most direct indicator of the performance of milking units