Behaviour of Cows in the Milking Parlour and Its Relationship with Milk Production and Type of Na

The purpose of the research was to examine the behaviour of five hundred forty-two dairy cows in the 2 × 16 DeLaval parallel milking parlour. During ten milking sessions the consistency of the entrance order in the milking parlour was investigated, in particular group preference, side preference and standing position during milking and relationships of these behavioural elements with milk production and type of nervous activity (NA) of cows. The highest repeatability was characteristic of group preference (repeatability coeffi-cient 0.47, Р<0.001), lower repeatability was for side preference and standing position (0.17, Р<0.001 and 0.09, Р<0.05). Young cows preferred generally to be milked in the first group (average lactation number 1.7), they had lower milk yield compared with the average milk yield in the herd (305-d milk yield-7552 kg) and reactive type of NA.The third group for milking was preferable for older cows (2,3lactations) with higher milk yield (7827 kg) and inert type of NA. It has been established that 8-12% of cows consistently chose the right or left side in the milking parlour, 42% of cows did not show any side preference. There have not been found significant differences in age and milk production of cows depending on the side pref-erence and standing position in the milking parlour. Using the own methodology, that based on the consis-tency of group preference and standing position in the milking parlour, cows were divided into three types of NA: reactive, balanced and inert. In the studied herd, reactive type of NA, balanced and inert contained 34%, 29% and 37% of cows, respectively. In cows of inert type of NA indicated some advantage in milk production. It can be assumed that with age the type of NA of cows changes from active (reactive) to calmer (inert). The proposed method of estimation of cows behavior in the milking parlour allows to group cows by type of NA, can improve cows welfare in the herd and optimize milk production.