Milking Practices
The National Dairy Study collected information on the milking practices of Canadian dairy farmers. Look below for an overview of some of the results.
Impediments to adoption of recommended milking practices by Canadian dairy farmers
Emilie belage thesis abstract
Objectives of this thesis were: (1) describe the consistency of producers with their milking routines, identify areas of higher variability, determine how well milking practices are being implemented; (2) describe the proportion of adoption of recommended milking practices (RMPs) across all Canadian provinces, and investigate differences across regions, milking systems, herd size and bulk tank SCC; (3) identify barriers and motivators for adoption of RMPs.
Farm-to-farm differences and variations between cows during a specific milking accounted for the largest part of the variability observed. Most Canadian dairy farmers adopted RMPs, but some are not as extensively used as others. Adoption of practices was significantly associated with milking system, herd size, and region.
Main barriers to adoption of RMPs included personal habits, not perceiving udder health as a priority, and lack of information/misinformation. Producers listed incentives for better milk quality as a motivator to implement RMPs and work on udder health.
Emilie Belage received her MSc in Epidemiology for her work on the National Dairy Study
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Check out Emilie's video summary of her work, and other resources from the National Dairy Study.
Key themes surrounding how to prevent mastitis.
Key themes surrounding most important procedures for managing udder health.
A thematic map developed by Ms. Belage to describe the barriers and motivators influencing the adoption of recommended milking practices.