A comparison of the milking characteristics of transparent and conventional teatcup liners

Abstract

SummaryThe milking characteristics of 4 transparent and 8 conventional rubber teatcup liners in new condition were compared for peak flow rate, machine time and strip yield, using 30 cows in two 15×15 Latin squares. The milking characteristics of transparent liners were similar to those of normal liners at the same cluster weight. The 4 transparent liners were then compared with 4 of the conventional liners using 16 cows in two 8×8 Latin squares, to observe the movement of teats within the liners throughout milking. The various analyses indicated significant differences between liners but the ranked liner mean values showed the transparent liners widely distributed in the range. It was concluded that findings from studies of teatcup action using transparent liners could be expected to apply also to conventional liners.The conventional liners were selected to form groups differing mainly in one physical characteristic only (stiffness of the mouthpiece, wall thickness, bore and rubber hardness). Within groups, there were no significant differences in milking properties of practical importance, but between groups there were small differences in machine time and strip yield. Two properties of the liners which appeared important in controlling movement of the teat into the liner were bore of the barrel and friction, bore having the greater influence at the beginning and friction being the dominant influence at the end of milking. With the transparent liners it could be seen that the end of the teat was frequently bathed in milk. Both with transparent and with conventional liners it was surprising how often the teat penetrated so deeply that complete collapse of the liner in each pulsation cycle was prevented.