Influence of breed and lactation number on udder traits of dairy cows

Title of the paper: Influence of breed and lactation number on udder traits of dairy cows For using automatic milking systems (AMS) a distance of 33 cm between teat and floor and of 1.5 cm between two backteats is necessary. To estimate the percentage of cows of the in Germany common breeds of Holstein-Friesian (HF), Simmental (FV), Brown Swiss (BV), Gelbvieh (GV), Red Holsteins (RH) and SMR (Synthetic breed out of Friesian, Jersey and Holsteins), which don't fit to the AMS, was the aim of this trial. The interval between milking and measuring influenced the distance between the two teats highly significant (p < .01), whereas only a trend of a decreasing teat-height could be shown. The repeatability of the different traits had been .94 for teat-height,.88 for distance between the teats and .56 for teat-length. There are highly significant differences between the teat-height. of HF (46.37 cm), whereas the breeds GV (38.88) and FV (39.45) show a pronounced decreased distance between teat and floor. The number of the lactation influenced the teat-height in the expected way, too. The teat-distance is influenced as well by the breed, as by the lactation. Under the assumption that AMS needs udder-measurements of greater than or equal to 33 cm teat-height and greater than or equal to1.5 cm distance between the hind teats, these requirements are not fulfilled by 9% of Simmentals and by 7% of the HF.