Survey of Milking Management Practices on Large Dairies and Their Relationship to Udder Health and Production Variables

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Abstract
A survey of 91 milking management practices and 5 measures of udder health and production was conducted on 50 randomly selected dairies in Tulare County, CA. Data were collected by a combination of interview and site visit. On many dairies, there was inconsistent application of recommended milking practices such as careful teat dipping, attending liner slips, maintaining treatment records, efficient parlor usage as measured by throughput, and use of paper towels. Thirteen of 91 practices were associated with at least one measure of udder health or production; the categories of practices that appear to have the most influence are practices related to environmental management and practices related to milking procedures. The implications of the study are that better preventive medicine education programs are needed as well as better analytical tools to permit producers to evaluate quantitatively the economic benefit of preventive medicine practices.