Automatic dairying systems and veterinary herd health service

Automatic milking systems offer the opportunity to improve the working cond itions on daily farms. They also indicate the beginning of new fully automa ted dairying systems with the potential advantages for improving the qualit y of life for the dairy farmer; the health and performance status of the co ws and that quality of the resulting product, milk. The current stage of de velopment of automatic milking systems indicate that they still have some d eficiencies in fulfilling the minimum requirements of the European milk hyg iene regulations, the early identification of health problems and allowing veterinary treatments. Some of the more relevant problems, for the dairy fa rmer and veterinarian, which can arise in herds with automatic milking syst ems are described.