Oct. 28, 2024
How tailored milking equipment can support animal welfare and farmer comfort
The dairy farming business is rapidly changing these days. Volatile milk prices, lack of skilled labor, increasing regulations and unstable weather conditions are just some of the challenges dairy farms face. As a consequence, farms are consolidating and expanding everywhere in the world, as reported over several editions of the International Farm Comparison Network’s Dairy Report. This means farmers are looking for more advanced equipment to increase efficiency and manage their herds in a more profitable and sustainable way.
"The new set-up of the cluster is lighter and more flexible to attach. We have improved the milking and save now more than 10 minutes per shift."
The Ludennecs (father and son)
France
120 cows
"The new cluster is less bulky and more flexible and thus easier to attach. The small outside diameter fits better to the narrow back teat placement. We experience far less re-attachments and a much quicker milking."
Stuart Rogers (left), farm owner
United Kingdom
240 cows
GEA milking cluster with Global Composite Shell.
GEA offers tools to evaluate each herd with the new SmartForms App and the LinerFinder; these help point to best choice of liner.
But, liners are only part of the overall equation. Once a farmer picks the best liner suitable for the herd based on teat sizes and goals, the next step is to make sure that farm is optimized correctly. GEA’s milking experts provide recommendations for all of GEA liners, first with the Do It Right From the Start Program and then Optimization Checklists for each liner. These programs, documents and trainings focus on topics like teat end vacuum, pulsation parameters and detach to see if the right liner was selected and the system settings were optimized based on the teat end conditions.
Teat end health is vital for the well-being of the cow and the quality of milk. Issues with teat ends can lead to mastitis, which is not only painful for the cow but also costly for the farmer. Proper equipment, maintenance and optimizations are key in preventing these issues and providing the best cow welfare for sustainable dairy farming.
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