Sergiy Fyl, head of breeding Consulting Center AMP

Old is the truth that milk is at the cows’ tongue. Of course, to have high productive cow, it must be timely and high-quality fed. However, as it turned out, just to put feed on the fodder place is not enough — you need to establish a mechanism of feeding. It is so sensitive that even a small oversight can crash the entire system.Milking schedule

The heart of every dairy farm is milking parlour. Therefore, at any farm milking schedule determines the schedules of all other works. Practice shows that the majority of Ukrainian farms begin first milking at 4 o’clock in the morning. But is it the right time?

Consultants of AMP long time were watching the animals, which were milked at four o’clock in the morning. What do they notice? After30-40 min.of milking, when returned to the section, only30-40% of cows showed interest to feed. The majority went to their boxes to rest. This means that the daily consumption of feed, and hence productivity declined. This behavior of cows is quite natural. The period between 2 to 4 am is often called «dead hour». In this period animals are the most passive. Managers need to limit all the works on the farm and in the barns during this period. The most actively cows consume feed between 6.30 to 9.00 am. If we take into account these observations, it is best to start milking at 5. Then the first batch of cows will come to feeders at 5.30. The difference in time is only one hour and the difference in the number of cows at the feeders is essential. Near 90-100 percent of cows consume feed compared with 30-40 percent an hour before. You should also carefully follow the same intervals between milkings. If cows are milked three times a day, it must be 8 hours, if two times — 12 hours.

More information read in the magazine «Milk and Farm» # 2 (15), April 2013