The end is near for the 2020 milking season on spring-calving dairy farms, with many farms now reduced to once-a-day milking (OAD). This gives the opportunity to start introducing first-time calvers to the milking parlour and the surrounding environment.

Heifers are highly valuable stock on a farm, therefore their introduction to the milking herd and environment should be planned. This will require time and patience but should result in time saved overall.

Pre-calving experience of the milking parlour and its associated noises, along with human contact can reduce adverse reactions and should reduce the stress levels of the heifers – once they have calved.

This should lead to a more successful first lactation with increased milk yields.

Allowing heifers access to the collecting yard, with the back gates of the parlour open is a good first step. Avoid trying to push heifers into the parlour and instead, allow them to enter in their own time.

Meal feeding can be introduced to encourage them into the parlour, while allowing them to stand in the parlour for a period of time will enable them to become familiar with their surroundings.

This should hopefully reduce the need for kick-bars in the early stages of lactation.