Dairy farm worker milking equipment training with an E-learning system

Herd managers and owners are responsible for providing adequate training to their employees to produce high quality milk. Such training should be planned based on farm needs. This study identified how many of the relevant problems, in the milking parlor related to milker training, were present in 3 main areas: equipment analysis, milker assessment, and cow assessment. The study was conducted on 15 commercial dairy farms in northern New York State (USA). Over 50% of the farms had one or more of the 3 most important problems with milking equipment, which milkers could have detected and reported to management. A total of 95 dairy farm workers were trained using E-learning modules related to milking equipment. The use of this type of training is a reasonable alternative for dairy farms, increasing employees' confidence by providing more detailed training content.