Abstract

While dairy cows are generally milked twice-a-day (TAD) in New Zealand, more farmers are adopting a once-a-day (OAD) milking routine to improve their lifestyle, reduce farm costs and improve animal welfare. Clark et al. (2006) reported that the yield of milksolids (MS) from Jersey cows was less affected (-19.9%/cow) by OAD milking than the MS yield from Holstein-Friesian cows (-29.4%/cow). Jersey cows milked OAD in Taranaki between 2000 and 2004 averaged 222 kg MS/cow and 979 kg MS/ha (Clark et al., 2006). In the 2006/07 season average per cow production from cows milked TAD in New Zealand was 330 kg MS ...Continued

DE, Dalley, JW Clough, LA Hofmann, CVC Phyn, and DA Clark

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 68, Brisbane, Australia, 96-97, 2008