Main problems of machine milking of cows

The organization of milking cows on farms plays an important role in milk production, ensuring production efficiency and helping to improve the living conditions of animals. The existing technology of milking animals with suctiontype milking machines is associated with significant costs of the accelerated renewal of the dairy herd due to significant diseases of cows with mastitis of mechanical origin. This is one of the problems with machine milking of cows which necessitates the replacement of cows on the farm every 4 or 5 years, the productive life of a cow being at least 10 or 11 years. This is due to the use of increased vacuum to extract milk in modern milking machines, which is several times higher than its level in the suckling apparatus of a calf. Another problem lies in the lack of milking stimuli that the teat rubber exerts on the teat receptors when milking with suction milking machines, weak massage of the cow's teats and udder with teat cups. A design has been proposed for an improved experimental teat, equipped with pressure sensors on its surface which is used to determine the magnitude and nature of the distribution of these forces over the surface of the teat in the processes of calf sucking while milking being manual and machine. Based on the results of these experiments, an increase in animal productivity has been established by increasing milking stimuli in the form of squeezing milk out of the udder teats with a reduced vacuum underneath them. The possibility of an additional increase in milk secretion in a cow by 0,5 kg within 3 or 4 hours after milking due to intensive application of milking irritants has been shown which indicates the need for further improvement of the operating process and design of existing milking machines.