New Zealand scientists were testing work in Australia which showed that milking out slow milking cows had no impact on udder health and productivity, but could save significant time in the milking shed.
Dairy New Zealand scientist Jenny Jago said at a field day at Telford Rural Polytechnic that many farmers milked out slow milking cows rather than leaving milk in the udder, but there was no scientific evidence linking residual milk in the udder with mastitis or a high sematic cell count.
However, there were other savings to be made.
"It is possible you could save up to 30 minutes a typical milking," she said.
New Zealand researchers were still completing their studies, but Dr Jago said work so far supported the Australian findings.
This was just one of the time-saving suggestions from Dr Jago to about 60 farmers at a field day on the Telford dairy farm.
She said life could be made better for both cows and staff with a bit of thought on stock flow.
With half the total labour hours on a dairy farm related to milking, it was an area where steps could be taken to make efficient use of time.
During the milking period, 20% of the time was spent getting cows to the shed, 60% milking and 20% cleaning.
She said cows had long memories and could recall where an unsettling incident occurred, as well as the person who might have upset them.
Cows liked to pick their own route when walking, so lane width, length, slope, camber, obstructions and surface material all affected their flow.
To get maximum cow flow, Dr Jago said lanes should be a minimum of 5m wide and up to a maximum of 7m.
There should be no sharp corners, obstacles, holes or changes in width.
She said Dairy NZ built a new lane on a research farm and the cows reacted badly to a slope that many thought was not too steep.
At the entry to the yard, Dr Jago said step-downs should be avoided as it put too much weight on one foot and could lead to lameness, while the yard entry should be wide.
Modern yards tended to be rectangular in shape, which aided cow flow.
Dr Jago said the key design issue with herringbone sheds was the height of the breast plate, so cow heads were at a comfortable height.
If there were concerns the height could allow cows to jump over the rail, she said a higher barrier rail could be installed.
With zigzag rails, cows needed their own space, while the exit gate needed to be large enough so cows flowed out once milked.
Cows also reacted badly to erratic noise, such as banging gates, people yelling and loud rock music, and they did not like being hit or slapped and would remember people who might have hurt or scared them.
Work routines could have a great effect on the efficiency of the whole milking process, she said.
For example, two people starting from the front of the pit and putting cups on in clusters of five or six cows as they worked towards the bottom, could save up to one minute's work a row.
With rotary sheds, one person could handle a 50-bail shed, but anything more than that required a second person.
Controlling the backing gate in the yard while having wide access to and from the rotary platform were two crucial areas to maintain a steady flow of cows through the dairy, while the speed of the platform was also a key.
An efficient operation leading to shorter milking times meant rotary sheds, in particular, could be smaller in size.