Evaluation of Performance and Cost of Hand and Mechanized Cow Milking Methods

Use of mechanization in milking operation can decline time required and costs and improve milking performance. Hand milking, as a most common milking method in Iran, was slightly considered regarding to performance and cost evaluations. Therefore, in present study, hand and mechanized (stanchion barn and tandem parlor) cow milking methods in terms of milking performance and cost. Performance characteristics comprised technical milking performance and milking extraction rate. One-kilogram milking cost was estimated considering to fixed and variable costs of milking. SPSS 16.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results showed that tandem milking method was higher than hand and stanchion milking methods about five times. Milking extraction rate in mechanized method (stanchion and tandem integration) with 1.7 Kg per minute was about 90% higher than hand milking method. Tandem milking costs was about two times higher than other two methods.