The impact of automatic milking on udder health and milk quality

Zdravje vimena in kakovost mleka sta zelo pomembna dejavnika, ki vplivata na uspešnost prireje mleka. V zadnjem desetletju se je zelo razširil in uveljavil avtomatski sistem molže, zato smo v diplomskem projektu analizirali vplive avtomatske molže na zdravje vimena in kakovost mleka. Avtomatski sistem molže pozitivno vpliva na stanje seskov in posledično na zdravje vimena (praktično ni več poškodb seskove odprtine), saj se ločeno molzejo posamezne četrti, ob tem da imajo nekateri roboti možno še nastavitev pulzacije glede na iztok mleka. Dobro stanje seskov pa pomeni manj vnetij vimena. Ena največjih prednosti tega sistema je povečanje mlečnosti na kravo, zaradi povečane frekvence molže. Na drugi strani pa pri robotu večji problem predstavlja čistoča vimena pred molžo. Zaenkrat ne obstajajo senzorji, ki bi določili kdaj je vime dovolj očiščeno, zato je pranje standardizirano ne glede na dejanske potrebe po pranju vimena in seskov. Zato je čistoča krav in vimena pri tem sistemu molže še toliko bolj pomembna. Slabša čistoča vimena vodi do slabše kakovosti mleka, saj večkrat pride do vdora bakterij skozi seskov kanal v mlečno cisterno, kar posledično privede do vnetja mlečne žleze. Pozitivni vpliv molže z robotom se odraža v povečani količini prirejenih maščob in beljakovin, negativno pa na povečanju količine prostih maščobnih kislin. Vendar pa se moramo pri teh raziskavah zavedati, da je veliko faktorjev, ki se med seboj prepletajo in vplivajo na rezultate prireje mleka na posamezni kmetiji in moramo zato pri interpretaciji le teh biti previdni.Udder health and milk quality are very important factors that affect milk production. In the last decade, the automatic milking system has become very popular and well established. For these reasons, we decided to analyse the influence of automatic milking on udder health and milk quality. Automatic milking system has a positive effect on the condition of the teats and consequently on the health of the udder (there is practically no more damage to the teat opening), since individual quarters are milked separately and some robots have the possibility to adjust the pulsation according to the milk outflow. Good condition of the teat also means less mastitis. One of the biggest advantage of this system is increased milk yield per cow, due to increase of the milking frequency. On the other hand, the cleanliness of the udder prior to the milking, poses a big problem when it is done with robots. At the moment there are no sensors that would determine if the udder is sufficiently clean, so the washing is standardised irrespective of the actual needs for washing of udder and teats. Therefore, the cleanliness of the cows and their udders is even more important in this milking system. Poor cleanliness of the udder leads to lower quality of milk, as this cause more frequent enter of bacteria through the teat canal into the gland cistern, which in turn leads to the inflammation of the mammary gland. The positive impact of milking robot is reflected in the increased amount of fat and protein content and the negative impact is reflected in the increased amount of free fatty acids. However, when carrying out these surveys we need to acknowledge that several factors are intertwined and have effect on the results of dairying in a single farm. We must therefore be careful when interpreting these factors