Impact of a Wide Range of Teat Lengths on Udder Healt h and Milking Time in Holstein Cows

Abstract

The objective of our experiment was to evaluate the impact of teat length on milk yield, actual milking time (AMT), milk conductivity (MC), somatic cell count (SCC) and mastitis incidence during lactation. The effect of teat length was evaluated as the occurrence of non-ideal teats (NIT; shorter than 40 mm or longer than 60 mm) at udder level and as the average length of teats on udder (ALTU). The experiment was conducted on 59 dairy cows of Holstein breed. SAS 9.3 was used for statistical calculation. There were great variances in teat length (22-96 mm) and in the rear/front teat ratio (0.8). Only 33% of the tested cows had optimal length of all teats. No evidence for a negative impact of NIT on udder health was found. ALTU showed a statistically significant effect on AMT and SCC (P < 0.05). Cows in the group of udders with short teats showed the worst results for SCC (P < 0.05) and MC. Udders with short teats showed the fastest AMT (6.78 min; P < 0.05) compared to udders with medium and long teats (7.36 min; P < 0.05 and 7.55 min; P < 0.05, respectively). Our results show that while using an udder friendly milking system, the effect of teat length on udder health could be negligible.