Ergonomic and economic indicators of milk production using different cow milking technologies

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to study the effect of changing the way of keeping and milking equipment on ergonomic and economic indicators. The research was carried out at «Ostriykivske» LLC, Bilotserkivskyi district, Kyiv region, where the milking herd was transferred from a capital-type room with tethered housing and milking into the milk pipeline to an easy-to-assemble room with loose housing and milking in the milking hall at the «Carousel» plant. The material for the research was lactating cows of the Ukrainian black-spotted dairy breed of II and III lactations. In order to accurately determine the duration of the technological operations of the milking process through the milk pipe and at the «Carousel» milking plant, it was filmed during the morning milking of cows. The change in the method of keeping (from tethered to loose housing) and the milking option (in the stall to the milk pipeline to the milking hall) had a significant impact on the time spent when performing the technological operations of one cow milking. The total time spent by machine milking operators in the slope decreased by 31.35 seconds. When moving the animals to the milking parlor, the duration of such operations as washing, wiping and massaging of the udder decreased by 4.8 s, milking of the first trickles of milk – by 0.6 s, and putting milking cups on the udders – by 1.3 s. The duration of preparatory and final milking operations decreased by 7.2 seconds, and other operations related to milking decreased by 58.2 seconds. At the same time, the complex indicator of the ergonomics of the milking installation when transferring cows to the milking parlor increased significantly (by 0.60) and met the requirements of the standard. The total labor costs when the conditions of keeping and milking were changed decreased by 52.96 man hours/year per cow. Labor costs for the following types of work decreased most significantly: milking and primary processing of milk; cleaning of stalls and manure passages; making litter and operating costs: 22.00; 19.40; 2.60 and 6.60 man hours/year per cow, respectively. Electricity consumption per cow per year increased by 22 kWh, and water for the milking process increased by 560 liters. Key words: dairy cows, ergonomics of milking, change of housing conditions, milking facilities, consumption of energy resources.