Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium - the Department of Animal ...

Stress
Reducing the emotional or physical stress of dairy animals will help to increase their
productivity and maintain their health status. The effects of human contact (Rushen et al., 2001),
a gentle or rough handler during milking (Munksgaard et al., 2001), and the use of the preferred
side of the milking parlour (Paranhos da Costa and Broom, 2001) on milk yield have been
analyzed in dairy cows. Dimitrov-Ivanov and Djorbineva (2002) found that machine-milked
calm ewes produced more milk than nervous ones (Table 7). Agitation and excitement in the
milking parlour is probably influenced by both genetic factors and the previous handling
experience of the animals. In cattle it has been observed that animals with previous experience of
quiet handling will be calmer and easier to handle in the future. In dairy cows the presence of a
rough handler did not modify the total milk yield per milking but increased the residual milk by
70% (Rushen et al., 1999), which affected the milking length.
Breuer et al. (2000) carried out a survey on 31 farms and observed that several
variables related to rough stockperson behaviour were negatively correlated with cow
productivity. To be precise, they found that the behaviour used when forcing cows into
position in the milking shed and/or when moving cows out of the shed were significantly
correlated with milk yield (r=-0.40 and -0.39, respectively, P