Short Term Changes in Teats Following Machine Milking with Respect to Quarter Health Status in Cows

The procedures and practices associated with milking are critically important and people now-a-days are switching over to machine milking to save time and money. Milking equipments if properly maintained have a positive impact on both milk production and milk quality. However, if the equipments are not used as per the recommended standard values it may have some untoward effects on udder health. In the present study the short term effect of machine milking on teats and their relationship with quarter health status was conducted on a total of 872 quarters of 218 apparently healthy lactating cows at 10 machine milked dairy farms of Punjab. The short term effects of machine milking on teats i.e., change in colour and morphology were seen in 22.9 percent (177) and 17.43 percent (152) of teats, respectively. There was no significant relationship between teat colour change and occurrence of mastitis (χ²=1.13; 01 df; P < 0.05). Out of the 177 quarters showing colour change 76 (42.9 percent) quarters showed morphological changes. A significant relationship was observed between change in colour and morphology of teats, immediately after milking (χ²= 84.95; 01 df; P < 0.001).