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Tip of the Month – November 2019

Check VMS Animal Settings.

A new month has started and the “Workroutine” list says that we have to check once a month the settings for individual cows.
Although the default settings are ok for the vast majority of cows, some cows require different settings, sometimes temporarily.

In order to make effective use of these Animal Settings and not accidently leave them if it isn’t necessary, it is recommended to check the overview once a month.

Take for example the “Milking Queue” list. First, click on a cow so that the bar turns blue. Second, press Ctrl + A and all cows turn blue. Third, click on “Batch Edit” and choose Batch AMS Animal Settings. Then, a list appears with the VMS settings for all selected cows.

It is especially important to look at the tab “Milk Permission”  to see which cows are “Allow Action” on Automatic Milk Permission and which are not, and whether “Temporary milking permission when incompletely milked” is being used properly.

Under the tab “Cleaning”, check which cows have a different setting for Teat cleaning or disinfection other than the standard and under “Configuration”, for example, whether “Existing” is used properly on existing teats and Teats to be milked. Also check if “Direct attach to teats” and other teat attach possibilities like “Abnormal teat shape”, are still the best for that cow, or not anymore?
And is “Base take-off decision on lower flow”  only used with the correct cows?

Making good use of these options offers a lot of benefits.