Dairy cow interactions with an automatic milking system starting with 'walk-through' selection

The effects of selecting cows for automatic milking in a passage between th e lying and the feeding areas (so-called 'walk-through' selection) on cow b ehaviour in the Automatic Milking System (AMS) were investigated. The same group of 24 cows was subjected in turn to three situations, each lasting 4 weeks: study 1-free cow traffic, study 2-free cow traffic and waiting area for cows selected for milking, study 3-same waiting area as in study 2, but one-way traffic. The average milking frequencies in these studies were res pectively 3.0, 2.9, 3.1 milkings per cow per day, with a standard deviation of 0.4 in each study. Cows receiving the 'milking' decision were faster in the passage with 'walk-through' selection (0.17-0.41 m/s) than those recei ving the 'no-milking' decision (0.04-0.09 m/s) (p < 0.05). The latter cows Lingered in the passage and urinated there two to three times more frequent ly than cows given the 'milking' decision (p < 0.05). 'Walk-through' select ion induced specific phenomena such as: withdrawals, unauthorised visits an d contacts with selection gate. Cow behaviour in the three above-mentioned situations is discussed. The suggestions for improving the cooperation betw een the cows and the AMS may help improve cow welfare and should also incre ase the milking efficiency of the AMS. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.