RawDairy] Re: udder, teat damage - cause, hand milking not required

[Guest guest]

Vacuum level is certainly a factor relative to teat/udder damage. From a basic view of milking it is the vacuum that is sucking the milk from the animal. Stimulating the animal causes the release of oxytocin which in turn causes the myoepithelial cells to contract squeezing milk from the alveoli creating a pressure increase. The negative pressure from the vacuum causes milk to flow out. The greater the pressure difference the faster the milk flows. Therefore a higher vacuum will cause faster milk flow and shorter milking times.

That being said there is some practical caution that applies as there can be damage and pain if there is not adequate resting. There is also a trade between vacuum level and machine milking time. The lower the vacuum the less potential stress from vacuum but with a longer time with the machine on the animal applying the vacuum to complete the milking. The result of low vacuum may be increased times to milk that result in a net increase in vacuum induced damage. Many farms have trended towards low vacuum levels below 12.5 inHg typically in an attempt to improve external teat end condition. The goal should be to have excellent teat end condition along with an efficient, complete milkout without causing internal teat canal/sinus damage. The latter is more difficult to see but is very evident as slow milking teats evolve due to the internal scar tissue formation that blocks milk flow.

Recommended vacuum levels are a function of milk line height (high, mid-line or low line) and milking machine manufacturer recommendations. I have farmers milking cows who run vacuum levels as high as 16 inHg in low lines and a little higher in high lines. I prefer at least 14 inHg for a low line and 15 inHg for a high line but these are not levels I would recommend for conventional milking machines.

I can understand the issue of significant mastitis incidents when having to milk a large herd by hand for a few milkings due to a power outage. I suspect that the individuals doing the milking were not able to effectively milk the animal in a timely and efficient manner. Oxytocin release is limited in time and therefore it is likely that milk was left in the udder. Mastitis is a typical outcome of a combination of compromised teat canals, bacteria and milk in the udder.

I agree that pulsation rate varies with the animal being milked. Cows milked with conventional milking machines are typically milked with a pulsation rate of 60ppm although there are some using 70ppm and I have heard of a few running higher rates. I use only one rate and that is 45ppm. Goats require a faster pulsation rate with conventional systems often operating in the 90 to over 120ppm rate. The first time I worked with goats was the brother of a college friend who had a goat herd with high mastitis rates that the university could not help solve. The initial attempt to milk them with a 45 ppm system resulted in rather slow milking speed. The final determination was a rate of 75ppm which worked very well. I believe that the smaller animals are limited in the volume of milk that can be let down into the teat sinus per unit of time and therefore a slower pulse rate with a long milk phase simply results in the teat sinus not having sufficient milk to sustain milk flow.

I spoke to the owner of a milking equipment company in Italy at Eurotier last fall and he noted that pulsation rates are often in the 180ppm to over 200ppm range. From a practical matter as you start to achieve pulsation rates of 120ppm and faster you simply reduce the liner action to a quiver. The pulsation graph is segmented into four phases, A, B, C and D with B and D being the milk and rest phase. A conventional pulstion will typically have an A and C phase duration of around 120 to 160 milliseconds. A pulsation rate of 180ppm yields a total pulse duration of 333 milliseconds. If the pulsator consumes at least 120 milliseconds for A and 120 milliseconds for C that leaves nothing for the milk and rest phases. The liner neither opens nor closes properly but moves between to partial states.

From a practical matter consider the rate at which you can hand milk a cow at goat or sheep. Compare that to the rates of operating a pulsator. A fundamental difference is that hand milking is not using vacuum and therefore not inducing damage in a manner that a milking machine will.

As the one individual noted in a prior email, I own a company that manufactures a unique pulsation system as is hopefully clear in my signature information. It is my opinion that many aspects and features of conventional milking machines have evolved over the years in an attempt to address the problems of teat damage, animal discomfort, poor milking performance, inefficient milking performance and of course mastitis. This has resulted in an evolution of milking machine characteristics that in my opinion are not logical and can create more problems than they solve. If you have an interest in researching the hundreds of patents on milking machines to "solve" these problems, many of which have never been marketed, you can go to http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html and search on key words such as milking machine, pulsator, Delaval, Boumatic, Noorlander etc. You can also serach on 119/14.$ and select "current US classification" in the drop down menu. This will yield most milking machine related patents. You need to select "1790 to present" in the "select years" drop down menu if you want patents older than 1976. This is a simple search and will yield some interesting information. I have included below a few exerpts from some of these patents as examples. You can search on the specific patent number also for more details.

Bill Gehm

Partner, LR Gehm LLC

9502 NYS Rt. 79

Lisle, NY 13797

www.CoPulsation.com

www.Facebook.com/CoPulsation

Alfa-Laval AB

United States Patent: 4,011,838

Issued March 15, 1977

Prior art milking machines have generally tended to perform under an unvarying milking condition throughout the milking processes, subjecting the teats to a constant level of working vacuum and to an unvarying pulsation of the teat liners. Such an unvarying milking condition can be undesirable, both in terms of the safety for the animal being milked and in terms of the quantity and quality of the milk obtained.

If the teats are subjected to too high a level of working vacuum prior to the release of the cow's milk, the full vacuum acting upon the teat with no milk flow can injure the teat and may cause the cow discomfort, decreasing her milk production. Similarly, the risk of injury is great if the teats are subjected to the working vacuum after milk flow has ceased.

Babson Bros. Co. (Surge)

United States Patent: 4,572,104

Issued February 25, 1986

Systems have been provided in which the ratio of milk period to rest period can be adjusted. Such a system is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,685. However, while these systems have allowed for the ratio of milk period to rest period to be increased from 50:50 to increase the amount per cycle of (and thus the rate of) milking, they are constrained by the risk of hurting the cow by not providing sufficient periods of rest.

Alfa-Laval Agriculture International

United States Patent: 5,090,359

Issued February 25, 1992

However, these known apparatuses do not solve the problem of preventing crawling of the teat cups on the teats

during the third milking when the milk flow ceases.

However, when the milk flow diminishes during the third milking phase the teat becomes slacker and slacker and its frictional engagement with the liner weaker and weaker, whereby the teat tends to be sucked deeper into the teat cup. Thus, each teat cup crawls on the teat towards the udder and thereby causes throttling of the milk conducting interior of the teat close to the udder, so that milking becomes more difficult and finally the milk flow completely ceases in spite of the fact that some milk still remains in the udder.

DEC International, Inc. (Bou-Matic)

United States Patent 5,218,924

Issued June 15, 1993

Various attempts have been made to ameliorate the undesirable effects of vacuum on the teat by carefully shaping the teat cup and liner to support the teat as well as possible, and by periodically relieving the vacuum to the teat.

Alfa Laval Agri

United States Patent 5,769,024

Issued June 23, 1998

a conventional milking machine exposes the cow's teat tips to a relatively strong milking vacuum, usually about 40-50 kPa. (40-50 kPa is 11.8 to 14.8 in Hg) However, this strong milking vacuum gives rise to the problem that the teats are treated ungently initially during the milking, when the milk flow is small or non-existing, which may result in discomfort and even pains to the cow. This may lead to that the hormone adrenaline is secreted and makes continued milk extraction difficult.

Alfa Laval Agri

United States Patent 5,697,323

Issued December 16, 1997

In milking machines currently marketed by Alfa Laval, the pulsation chamber of each teatcup is exposed to a pulsating vacuum having a rate of typically 60 cycles/minute and varying between atmospheric pressure and a peak vacuum level of about 42-46 kPa and 48-50 kPa for low level milking system and high level milking system, respectively, while the interior of the liner under the teat is exposed to a milking vacuum of about the same level as the peak vacuum level.

The relatively strong milking vacuum is needed primarily for ensuring a safe attachment of the teat cups to the teats and, secondary, for achieving a rapid milking and a high milk yield. However, a disadvantage of such a strong milking vacuum is that it might treat the teats roughly, especially at the beginning and at the end of the milking interval when there is no or insignificant milk flow through one or more teats. Attempts have been made to eliminate this disadvantage by milking according to different modes of operation during the milking interval, in order to provide for a gentle milking also at the beginning and at the end of the milking interval

DEC International, Inc. (Bou-Matic)

United States Patent 6,039,001

Issued March 21, 2000

The present inventor's conclusion from the various pieces of research is that a mean mouthpiece chamber vacuum greater than 20 kPa (20kPa is 5.9 in Hg) seems to be less comfortable to cows, results in more teat congestion and oedema, and has been linked to a higher rate of new mastitis infections.

Re: [NODPA-ODAIRY] udder dissection video - teat damage shown

What can you do to avoid this? simply milk by hand?

There is an interesting video located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd2_FMr0iGY which shows the dissection of an udder and teat. You can also find it by searching on the key words "progressive dairyman udder dissection video".

The video shows a teat sectioned and then inverted (turned inside out). You can see the physical damage to the teat sinus (portion above the teat canal) that is caused by the milking machine. The moderator notes that as "overmilking" but is simply conventional milking machine physical damage that was previously studied and documented by Teagasc in Ireland. You can find those studies that were published in the Irish Veterinary Journal at http://www.copulsation.com/pdf/Peer20May2004_teat_swelling.pdf and http://www.copulsation.com/pdf/machine_milking_teat_condition.pdf. You can physically feel the scar tissue that exists within the canal by lightly pinching and rolling the teat end. This information provides evidence and an explanation for how and why slow quarters are created and exist. It is reasonable to expect that this leads to reduced milk production and mastitis. The damage evident in the video as well as in the published Irish studies is the likely cause of cows kicking at machines. The white raised spots shown in the video on the teat sinus injury look similar to a blood blister and likely a painful event.

The video also shows the extent to which puss from a mastitis infection plugs up the channels in the quarter making treatment largely ineffective when trying to infuse into the teat.

Regards,

Bill Gehm

Partner, LR Gehm LLCwww.CoPulsation.com

www.Facebook.com/CoPulsation

9502 NYS Rt. 79

Lisle, NY 13797

USA

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