Evaluation and selection of cows by stress resistance for a robotic milking system

The results of the development of a new method for assessing the stress resistance of cows for a robotic milking system are presented and its approbation in farm conditions is carried out. The research was carried out at the Department of Mechanization of the FBEI Kazan SAVM and on the basis of the farm «Mukhametshin Z.Z.» of the Sabinsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan. The essence of the developed method is to measure the intensity of the breast reflex by analyzing the dynamics of lactation. It is shown that the ratio of milk yield in the first minute to a single milk yield (the degree of milking), followed by the calculation of the difference in the degree of milking between successive milkings, is an objective indicator of the process of adaptation of cows to robotic milking. As an indicator of stress resistance, the amount of milking is used, after which the established value of the degree of milking occurs. The advantage of the new method is the ability to evaluate animals without violating the established regime of keeping and milking. The approbation of the method was carried out on first-calf cows of the Holstein breed. In cows, the average degree of milking was 22.3 %, the average amount of milking, after which the fluctuations in the degree of milking were below the specified small value (10 %), was 4.9 times. After the distribution of animals according to the plus-minus sigma criterion, 22.2 % of the first heifers were classified as high type of stress resistance, 44.5 % as medium, 33.3 % as low. Farms using the technology of robotic milking are recommended to select cows of a high type of stress resistance there, first of all, when forming the breeding core.