Abstract

Herd testing is a significant expense for dairy farmers but it gives important information about individual cow yields and contributes to the genetic worth status of the cows. While every effort is made to maximise the value of the tests to the farmer there are still opportunities to increase this value further. Estimations of milk yield from herd tests, whether from one or two milkings, rely on the generally held assumption that animals come in to the parlour in a similar order at each milking (DairyNZ 2011) and so the values obtained reflect a nominal 24 hour yield. ... continued

AJ, Molenaar, HV Henderson, Burgess ML, WG Burgess, DL Johnson, and K Singh

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 72, Christchurch, 186-188, 2012