MILKING FREQUENCY IN MILKING ROBOTS WITH FEED FIRST COW TRAFFIC

Abstract. Last year the first robotized milking machines were introduced in Latvia. Their main peculiarity lies in the fact that cows are milked without the help of people. The animals can go to the milking place independently at their own will and at any time of the day. After milking they can move to the feeding zones as well as to the recreation zones. For trafficking of animals from one functional zone to another several solutions have been elaborated. On the training and research h farm “Vecauce ” of the Latvia University of Agriculture where the research was carried out the cows are milked by two robots and the feed first cow traffic system is applied. In this case the cows can get to the concentrated feed feeding zone going through the sorting gate. Here the animals are identified and the necessity for milking is evaluated and depending upon it the cows are directed to the pre-milking area or to the zone where the concentrated feed distribution stands are located. In Vecauce also another innovation is introduced – the cows after leaving the first robot get back to the pre-milking area and only after that through a separate sorting gate they can get into the feeding zone. The aim of our research was to state how often the cows attend robots during a day and to evaluate the cow traffic system applied in Vecauce. In the research it was stated that the cows are milked in robots in the average 2.9 times a day. But the trafficking of cows milked in the first robot to the feeding zone through the pre-milking area is not rational as a part of the milked cows return to the robot repeatedly so increasing the load of this robot. In order to eliminate this disadvantage proposals have been developed for reconstruction of the pre-milking area and for improvement of the animal trafficking system. Key words: milk cows, robotic milking, milking frequency, cow trafficking system