Contact and non-contact thermometry in the milk acquisition process

Abstract

Temperatures of the northern wall, ceiling and floor of a 2 x 12 milking house as well as of a waiting area in front of the milking house were measured for 24 hours a day in the winter season with an average external daily temperature of -8.6°C. The influence of low external temperatures on the temperatures of cows' mammary glands was measured with a non-contact thermometer RAYNGER ST 6 equipped with laser. The analysis showed that the low external temperatures and insufficiently warmed external walls [average 24-hour temperatures: (tst = +1.32°C), ceiling (ts = +2.65°C), floor (tp = +3.29°C)] as well as the waiting area in front of the milking house (td = +1.9°C) produced unsuitable temperature conditions despite of the use of heaters in the milking house, resulting in the undercooling of mammary glands and the traumatising of dairy cows. The temperatures of mammary glands of tested dairy cows were evaluated by a multifactor analysis of variance. The time and place of measuring were statistically significant on the significance level 0.05. The F-test value for the factor of time was 12.342, with probability 0.0007. The F-test value for the place of temperature measuring was 1061.979, probability 0.0000. Among the equations of curves of the dependences of teat end temperature on the milking time, the closest seemed to be the logarithmic function with determination index R2 = 0.7404.