RELATIVE MOTIVATIONS OF DAIRY-COWS TO BE MILKED OR FED IN A Y-MAZE AND AN AUTOMATIC MILKING SYSTEM

The relative motivations of cows to be milked or fed were examined in four experiments, In experiments I and II, six high (HY, 33.9 1/day, s .d. 5.4 1) and six low (LY, 13.8 1/day, s.d. 1.6 1) yielding dairy cow s were given the choice to be milked or not in a Y-maze five times/day every 3.5 h. The mean number of milkings chosen/cow.day during the la st 3 days of each part of each experiment was 3.3 (max 5, min 0) for t he HYs and 2.1 (max 4, min 0) for the LYs, but this difference was not significant (P > 0.05). In experiment III, six HYs (35.2 1/day s.d.3. 1 1) were given the choice between being milked or fed 0.33 kg of pell eted concentrate food. At every opportunity the cows chose to be fed. In experiment IV, 12 cows (6 HY and 6 LY, yielding 27.5 1/day (s.d.3.3 6 1) and 13.6 1/day (s.d.1.35 1) respectively) were allowed voluntary attendance to an automatic milking system (AMS) for 15 h/day. The mean number of milkings chosen/cow.day over the 8 days was 1.2 (max 4.1, m in 0) for the HYs and 0.8 (max 3.6, min 0) for the LYs, but this diffe rence was not significant (P > 0.05). When fed concentrate (HYs: 4 kg/ day, LYs: 2 kg/day) in the AMS. the HYs' milking choices rose signific antly to a mean of 4.0 (max 6.6, min 0.3) (P < 0.025), and the LYs' ro se non-significantly to 1.6 (max 5.6, min 0) (P > 0.05). Individual co ws may find milking either positively or negatively reinforcing, but o verall, the motivation to be milked is weak. Food is significantly mor e rewarding than milking and likely to be a necessary incentive to att ract cows to an AMS. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.