Pasture management in two high performing automatic milking systems

摘要

Achieving high voluntary cow movement is one of the major challenges when adopting an automaticmilking system (AMS) within a pasture based dairy system. An analysis of two commercial dairy farms withexcellent cow flow was undertaken to capture a more detailed understanding of how these farms wereachieving regular voluntary cow movement and target milking frequencies. Data was collected throughoutJanuary and February 2013 on two farms, located in North-West Tasmania (Farm A) and WesternGippsland Victoria (Farm B). The farms were milking on average 207 and 166 cows respectively, with threeLely A3 robots, 3 way grazing and no irrigation. On Farm A, daily pasture allocation (pre-grazing biomass 1500) varied significantly (p<0.05) from 4 kg DM/cow for block B and C to 2 kg DM/cow for block A, whichresulted in a variation in the percentage of feed allocated per hour of active access of 2.2-5.5%. Thiscorresponded with a more uniform milking distribution over a 24 hour period, achieving between 21 and 25milkings/hour. Farm Bs pasture allocation was not significantly different (p=0.091) between blocks,however the percentage of feed allocated per hour of active access did vary between 3.3-6.0%. Thisresulted in more variable milking distribution over a 24 hour period of between 9-22 milkings/hour. Thus, itis concluded that high voluntary cow movement in an AMS can be achieved by varying the quantity andtiming of pasture allocation.