Management Points to Consider when Increasing Milking Frequency

Switching from milking the dairy herd from two times a day (2x) to three times (3x) or more times a day has been regarded as a low-cost practice to improve milk productivity and enhance farm income.

The incentive for this management strategy comes from research (Barnes, 1990; Erdman and Varner, 1995; Smith, 2002) demonstrating that increased milking frequency (IMF) increases cows’ milk productivity, milk quality, and herd health. Yet, the increased productivity is accompanied by increased operating expenses that should not be overlooked.

Below are some income and cost management areas producers should think about before they decide to increase milking frequency.  

Increased Income

Milk Yield

Research reports that milk yield increases with IMF; however, the production increases are based on the individual response of the cow and various farm management factors. When cows experience stress, such as heat stress, long standing, or poor nutrition, the milk yield response most likely will not meet expectations.

Older research with 2x to 3x reported milk yield increases vary from 4% up to 25% or 5.5 – 10.7 Lbs/d, with the most reported increase of 7-8 Lbs/d.

For example, the highest response in milk production from switching from 2X to 3X was 25% (or 2,842 Lbs.) for first lactation cows and 18% (or 2,305 Lbs.) for second lactation cows (Barnes, 1990) and 15 to 16% (or 1,310 to 1,390 Lbs.) for the entire lactation (Smith, 2002). The lowest increase in milk yield was 4% or 677 Lbs. for primiparous cows and 3% or 488 Lbs. for multiparous cows (Boujenane, 2019).

Other researchers reported milk yield gain on a per-day basis. Erdman and Varner (1995) observed a fixed milk yield response of 7.7 Lbs. /cow/day by switching 2x to 3x and 10.7 Lbs. by 2x to 4x. A similar observation was reported by Hart et al. (2013), where milk yield was increased from 2x to 3x by 5.5 Lbs. to 7.07 Lbs. per day for primiparous and multiparous cows, respectively.

A milk increase of 8.5 Lbs/day was reported by Wall and McFadden (2007) and Bortacki (2017).

Other authors suggested that IMF of more than 3X in early lactation was not effective (VanBaale et al., 2005).

Milk Components

Although milk yield increases with increased milking frequency, milk solids tend to decrease. Most studies suggest that milk component percentages may be negatively affected by IMF, but with the higher overall milk yield, the pounds of milk fat and protein increase.

Dependent on different management factors, reports indicate that milk fat can decrease by as little as 0.1% and as much as 1% or be unchanged, and protein by as little as 0.02% and as much as 0.4%. (Szuchs et al. 1986, Barnes et al., 1990, Smith et al. 2002, Hale et al. 2003, Bortacki et al. 2017).

An earlier study reported fat percentage was greater for cows milked 2x rather than 3x (3.68% vs 3.53%), but there was no difference in milk fat percentage between first and second lactations. There was also no difference in overall milk fat yield (Barnes et al. 1990).

Erdman and Varner (1995) concluded that milk fat and protein decreased by 0.14% - 0.18% and 0.04% - 0.06%, respectively, by increasing MF from 2x to 3x or 4x. But the overall daily gain in fat yield was up by 9-10% and protein by 9-12%.

Depression of fat and protein was identified in cows milked 4X during the first three weeks of lactation (3.95%) as opposed to cows milked 2X daily (4.95%). Fat decreased by one percentage point, from 4.95% to 3.95%, and protein by 0.12 %, from 3.16% to 3.04% (Hale et al. 2003).

Smith et al. (2002) found decreased fat by 0.07% to 0.1% and protein by 0.02% to 0.04% when cows were switched from 2x to 3X milking.

Hart et al. (2013) found that milk fat dropped by 0.23% for primiparous and 0.36% for multiparous cows from 2x to 3x, and it was marginally significant. Similarly, protein dropped by 0.02% and 0.01%, but it was insignificant.

Boujenane (2019) reported an overall increase in milk fat and protein yields, but there was no difference between milk and fat percentages from 2x and 3x for primiparous and multiparous cows.

Another study found no difference in fat percentage between 2x and 3x milking (3.92% vs. 3.95%, respectively), but there were significant differences in protein (3.44% vs. 3.38%, respectively) (Bortacki et al. 2017).

Butterfat and protein prices play important roles in decision-making. The higher price for milk components, the larger reward for higher milk yield. However, the higher the component price, the more extra milk yield must be produced to offset the monetary loss associated with component decrease.

For example, with the current butterfat price of $3.65/Lb. (USDA/AMS, Oct. 2022), a farm with a milk yield of 70 Lbs/d and 4% butterfat would have to increase milk yield by 4 Lbs., or 5%, to offset the loss of 0.2% in butterfat milk production. 

Generally, it is easier to achieve larger improvements in butterfat production than in protein, and quite often, nutritional management practices aimed at improving milk fat will also result in an improvement in protein (Knapp, 2022). Producers should consult with their nutritionists to select the best nutrient/price combination ratio to maximize increased milk components production and market prices.

Udder health

The effect of IMF on udder health can be an additional benefit to the producer.

It was reported that a herd with IMF (3x for the entire lactation or 4x or 6x for the first 21 days in milk), improved somatic cell count (Dahl G. E. et. al, 2004), particularly in high-producing cows. If a producer is paid a milk quality premium, he/she can benefit twofold – increased milk check and lower costs for mastitis treatment.

However, with higher milking frequency, the teats are exposed to a high vacuum for a longer time, which puts more stress on teat ends, potentially decreasing milk quality and incurring costs.

For this reason, it is necessary that milking practices are followed thoroughly and milkers minimize overmilking and slippages. The milking equipment needs to be in good operating condition with more frequent checkups. It is suggested that flow rates for the automatic take-offs were set at the higher end of the scale to avoid teat end strain (Dahl, 2005).  

Costs

The major costs associated with each additional milking are feed and labor, which will ultimately determine whether it makes sense to milk more often. Additional costs include utilities and milking parlor supplies. In general, these costs will rise about 30-50% when going from 2x a day to 3x a day milking.

Labor

Labor includes the labor of the milker to get the cows into the milking parlor, washing and scraping, and possibly feeding the herd during the additional milking.

With $15 per hour pay per worker and two hours for one milking, the additional labor cost would be at least $21,900 per year for two workers. At $22/cwt milk price, the cows would have to produce at least 99,500 pounds of milk to cover the labor cost only. If the milk price were lower, more milk would be needed to cover the labor costs.  In areas where the labor market is tight, the marginal labor cost could be higher.

One more thing to consider is that with increased milking frequency, it is inevitable that one or two milkings will be at night, so it is important to have reliable workers, as the manager could end up doing the night milking.

Feed Intake

With IMF, cows will eat more to meet their increased caloric demand from producing more milk. The success of IMF will depend not only on feed quality (the content of DM, NDF, TDN, etc.) but also on feed availability.

Cows that have access to the feed most of the day or are fed ad libitum will respond to IMF better than those that are limited in feed intake. It is suggested that managers review their feed management practices to meet the cows' increased energy needs.

Because of feed availability, research also suggests that dairy producers use the incremental value of milk yield in pounds per day rather than percentages, as the latter can lead to overestimating the feed needed to support the additional milk production (Dahl, 2005). It is also recommended that managers check their feed inventory before increasing milking frequency so that there is sufficient feed to support the increased needs.

Managers can comfortably budget an additional 1 Lb. of DM into the ration for every 2 or 3 Lbs. of milk increase. Using $0.16/Lb. of DM, it would add $0.08 in cost to every pound of extra milk produced.

Milking frequency and cow time budget

Natural cow behavior is one of the management areas that may be overlooked when producers think of IMF.

A cow needs approximately 16 – 17 hours a day for eating and resting, 2-3 hours for standing, walking, grooming, and half an hour for drinking. That leaves 2.5 – 3.5 hours for milking. If the cow spends more than 3.5 hours outside her pen, something else must be adjusted, and usually, it is lying time (Grant, 2015).

An additional 1.5 hour standing for whatever reason decreases feeding time by 45 minutes (Grant, 2015). This time would not seem that much, but considering that feeding time and rumination are closely correlated, these 45 minutes of feed deprivation reduce DMI about 2.2 Lbs, which is equivalent to 5 - 6 Lbs. of milk.

For milking parlors that are already maxed out, the additional time standing in the holding area can have long-term negative economic and health consequences that outweigh the desired gain in milk production.

It is recommended that producers consider the level of the current production, feed management practices, use of the milking parlor, milking parlor costs per milking, feed inventory, current prices for ration components, and market milk components prices to determine whether additional milking will be profitable.

Be sure to consider the cost and availability of labor, availability of additional feed, space in the parlor, and time away from the pen for cows as well as the level of production and components in your herd when evaluating a change from 2x to 3x milking. 

References

Barnes M.A., Pearson R.E., and Lukes-Wilson A.J. (1990). Effects of milking frequency and selection for milk yield on productive efficiency of Holstein cows. J. Dairy Sci. 73, 1603-1611.

Bortacki P., Kujawiak R., Piatkowska E., Kirdar S.S., Wojcik J., Grzesiak W.  2017. Impact of milking frequency on yield, chemical composition and quality of milk in high producing dairy herd. Mljekarstvo 67 (3), 226-230.

Boujenane I. 2019. Effects of Milking Frequency on Milk Production and Composition of Holstein Cows during Their First Three Lactations. Journal of Applied Animal Science 9(1), 25-29

Dahl G.E.; Wallace R. L., Shanks R. D., Lueking D. 2004. Hot topic: effects of frequent milking in early lactation on milk yield and udder health. J Dairy Sci. 87 (4):882-5. 

Dahl. G. E. 2005. What milking frequency is right for my farm? University of Illinois Extension Dairy Net paper.

Erdman R. A., Varner M. 1995. Fixed yield responses to increased milking frequency. J Dairy Sci. Volume 78 (5):1199-1203.

Grant R. 2015. Economic benefits of improved cow comfort. Novus International, Inc.

Hale S.A., Capuco A. V., Erdman R. E. 2003. Milk yield and mammary growth effects due to increased milking frequency during early lactation. J. Dairy Sci. 86: 2060-2071.

Hart K.D., McBride B.W., Duffield T.F., DeVries T.J. 2013. Effect of milking frequency on the behavior and productivity of lactating dairy cows, J. Dairy Sci. 96:6973-6985.

Knapp J. 2022. Does it Pay to Increase Milk Components at Current Prices? Ohio State University Extension, Buckeye Dairy News, Vol 12:2.

Smith J.W., Ely L.O., Graves W.M., Gilson W.D. 2002. Effect of Milking Frequency on DHI Performance Measures. J. Dairy Sci. 85:3526–3533.

Szuchs E., Acs I., Ugri K., Sas M., Torok I. and Fodor E. 1986. Milking three times a day in a herd with high milk yields. J. Dairy Sci. 48, 360-368.

VanBaale M.J., et al. 2015. Effect of increased milking frequency during early lactation on health and performance of lactating dairy cattle. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Arizona Dairy Production Conference.

Wall E. H., McFadden T. B. 2007. The milk yield response to frequent milking in early lactation of dairy cows is locally regulated. J Dairy Sci. 90(2):716-20.

USDA/AMS, Announcement of Class and Component Prices, Dairy Program, November 2022.