May 2026 – Seconds Can Cost You

It is getting to that time of year when the shackles of managing spring-born calves and coordinating breeding policies well and truly come off. As the sun begins to shine, Irish dairy farms turn to the autopilot of ‘silage mode’. I am in no doubt all eyes are on the skies at present. This conservation of harvested grass is one of the most cost-effective methods of utilising home-grown feeds for winter feeding. Silage season is resource heavy, but it pays dividends during the housing period. It is a project with the long term at the front of the mind. But what if we briefly focused on another type of harvest – that of milk.

From both a milk quality and teat health perspective there are learnings from taking a forward planning approach. A clear example springs to mind. I call it ‘Empty Bowl Syndrome’. And no, this is not an Oliver Twist reference. This syndrome can dramatically affect mastitis control at farm level by driving teat end damage [Fig 1] and teat congestion [Fig 2].

The condition can be characterised by extended periods of time when there is no milk flow in milking clusters during the milking process. Most people will refer to this as ‘overmilking’ and associate it with the end of milking. However, like many things in life, ‘Empty Bowl Syndrome’ is a little more complex than this. For example, there are TWO times empty bowls can be seen in the milking parlour.

In most milking routines, units are attached sequentially along a row of cows from the front to the back of the parlour and vice versa. It is seldom that milkers take time to look at what happens in the clawpieces behind them.

But if you take a second you may find poor milk flow. This is the first form of ‘Empty Bowl Syndrome’, the scourge of ‘Biphasic Milk Let-Down’, a term which describes two phases of milk flow (A + B).

What does this look like? Initially there is no issue with milk flow (A), but after a few seconds you will see the bowl go dry. This typically can last anywhere from 15-90 seconds before milk flow returns with a brilliant gush (B). But think about it. Milking has been slowed. Time in the parlour extended. And your cow has been overmilked for the best part of a minute at the start of milking. Your cows may not be able to speak but this is their physiology screaming out at you.

Providing a consistent pre-milking teat stimulation circumvents this. Remember this:

• STRIP (Foremilk Stripping)
• DIP (Pre-Milking Teat Disinfection)
• DRY (Dry Wiping Teats)
• APPLY (Attaching Milking Unit)

This tactile stimulation signals for the release of the ‘milk let-down hormone’ known as Oxytocin. This is crucial for flow milk. Incredibly, this hormone comes from the brain – so it can take 60-90 seconds for it to transverse the bloodstream and reach the udder to exert is effect. This is known as the ‘Prep-Lag Time’, the period from first teat contact to cups on.

By using STRIP, DIP, DRY, APPLY you may invest time in pre-milking teat preparation, but you will be paid back with uniform milk flow, reduced unit on time, less teat health issues, and lower levels of mastitis. Incorporating these approaches into herringbone parlours is achievable. Approach this by employing batch preparation of rows to ensure all cows fall into the 60-90 second period. However, attaining this in rotary parlours – systems focused on efficient cow throughput – is extremely difficult.

This is what the traditionalist would call ‘terminal overmilking’ – the cow has run out of milk to be harvested. This component of ‘Empty Bowl Syndrome’ is the result of your unit detachment procedures.

• Manual Cluster Removal: It is difficult to avoid some degree of terminal overmilking with more than 14 units per operator, especially if distracted by jobs outside the pit.
• Automatic Cluster Removal: An issue with terminal overmilking should be minimised with properly functioning equipment with correct switch points, delay times, and milk flow threshold cut-offs.

Talking about teat health issues in May might seem like a step out of touch, or a problem that will only rear its head many moons from now. But should we wait until we see chronic teat end damage at the end of lactation, as we attempt to dry our cows off? Or should we be proactive and on the lookout for this ‘Empty Bowl Syndrome’?

As CellCheck Programme Manager I see the teat ends as the most important 10mm of a cow which farms can ill afford to have damaged. The cracks and crevices of teat end damage are a perfect refuge for contagious mastitis pathogens (such as Staph. aureus) and the damaged door leaves a convenient opening for environmental pathogens (such as Strep. uberis and E. coli).

As we pass peak yields keep an eye out for ‘Empty Bowl Syndrome’ in your parlour. As a starting point I would suggest looking at teat ends the evening before any cuts of silage.  Take action if needed. As the saying goes ‘time is money’, so don’t let these critical seconds cost you.