Impact of automatic milking on animal health

Assessments of cow health on the transition of the herd from conventional to automated milking (AM), by use of a milking robot, have been made on up to fifteen farms in each of three European countries. No adverse effects of the transition have been found for body condition, lameness or teat condition. A potential risk is that fertility of the herd may decline faster than the current trend for conventional dairy farms. An increase in lameness after 12-months is possible and must be managed. The only obvious change was that milk cell count, often an indicator of the prevalence of mastitis increased overall. However, this response to AM is inconsistent between herds, countries and studies such that the risk factors are not known, or consistent. In any herd the deleterious effects appear confined to a portion of the herd only. Other biological and technical factors including the frequency and periodicity of milking, and milk sampling techniques may also be involved and require examination. Overall few changes have been found in the health of dairy cows milked by an automated system compared to a conventional parlour system. The quality of most current management is at least adequate for successful conversion although not all farms do convert successfully. On the contrary no particular benefits for the health of the cows have been found so it is likely that automated milking systems are far from optimised.