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Mar 10, 2024

How to maintain milk hygiene in robotic dairies

Achieving low levels of bacteria can be challenging for any dairy, but automatic milking systems (AMS) have some unique additional risk areas. Knowing these risks allows operators to mitigate the

Achieving low levels of bacteria can be challenging for any dairy, but automatic milking systems (AMS) have some unique additional risk areas.

Knowing these risks allows operators to mitigate the chance of poor milk hygiene.

See also: How to make the most of technical data from robots

A dirty environment increases the bacterial load on cows’ teats. This can overwhelm the capacity of the robot for pre-milking disinfection, leading to higher levels of bacteria in the milk.

Top tip: Optimise cubicle neck rail and brisket locator position to improve cow position and bedding hygiene

Pre-milking teat cleaning by the robot has some key limitations, regardless of the system used by each model.

Top tip: Use extended teat-cleaning protocols – this will also improve milk flow rates

If mastitis detection is good, infected quarters will be identified and the milk withheld from the bulk tank. However, if milk from infected quarters is allowed into the silo, certain bacteria may contribute to a high Bactoscan.

Mastitis detection in AMS is a complex issue. Testing methods are highly sensitive but tend to give a very high number of false positive cases.

Many AMS herd managers adapt to this by only responding to those mastitis alerts they think are likely to be true positives. This can lead to inconsistent detection of cases, allowing infected milk into the tank.

Top tip: Minimise the overall mastitis rate to reduce the impact of limitations in the detection system

Disinfecting the AMS box is usually very successful, with problems limited to a few key areas:

Top tip: Regularly calibrate wash chemical dosing

With robots milking only one cow at a time, milk transit through the system is slow, affecting milk cooling. Problems are greater if the robot is distant from the bulk tank.

Top tip: Monitor cooling speed and insulate milk transfer pipes and buffer tanks

The key difference between AMS and conventional systems is that AMS also have a buffer tank that requires cleaning.

A larger volume of cleaning fluid/litre of tank capacity (compared with bulk tank cleaning) is recommended for these smaller tanks.

Not all buffer tank washes are automated. For manual washes, the milk residue goes uncleaned for longer if the tank is used for overnight milk collections, increasing the risk of bacterial growth.

Top tip: Clean buffer tanks promptly after use

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