Noise emissions in milking parlours with various construction solutions

Abstract

Mechanical devices in parlours are a source of noise, and this noise has an effect not only on the operators of the parlour but also on dairy cows. They have more sensitive hearing than humans. The aim of this article was to analyse the sound pressure level and determine the noise exposure of dairy cows at different technological solutions of milking parlours, during their day routine. In the experiment, tandem, herringbone and rotary milking parlours were used. Noise exposure was measured during the milking process. After evaluation of noise pressure levels of different types of milking parlours, it can be concluded that in this experiment, the equivalent noise pressure level was lowest in the tandem milking parlour. Equivalent sound pressure levels in the rotary and herringbone milking parlour were almost about the same values. These values are higher than values in the tandem milking parlour, about 10 decibels. The differences within mean LAFeq values between the herringbone milking parlour and tandem milking parlour were highly statistically significant (P <0.001∗∗∗).