Índices produtivos de vacas leiteiras em sistemas de ordenha robotizada

Abstract

Robotic milking is a new technology that has been gaining space within the dairy cattle sector in the world and in the country due to its proposal of solving labor problems and offering good productive results. The objective of this study was to evaluate the production rates of dairy cows in a robotic milking system. The farm that provided the data is located in Lagoa da Prata-MG and had approximately 230 lactating cows housed in two Compost barns, each with two DeLaval robotic milking stations, with guided flow traffic and "milk first system". The animals received PMR (partial mixed ration) twice a day, associated with the concentrate supplied in the robot. Daily data were collected on number of lactating cows, days in milk (DIM), individual milking frequency (milkings/cow/day), individual milk production (kg milk/cow/day) and individual concentrate consumption (kg concentrate in the robot/cow/day). From these indicators, the average daily milk production per robot (Kg milk/robot) and the average daily number of cows per robot (cows/robot) were calculated. In the 12 month period, the farm had an average of 233 lactating cows, being 58.3 animals/robot, with an average DIM of 193 days. These animals presented average production of 30.9 kg/cow/day, milking frequency of 2.34, and average consumption of concentrate of 2.5 kg of natural matter/cow/day. Based on the analyzed data, the production system presented satisfactory results for the main productive indicators in robotic systems, but in relation to milking frequency and milk production per cow it was verified that the system has opportunities to achieve improvements. The comparison of production indicators with other production systems is an important strategy for the analysis of the current situation and for pointing out the needs for improvements.