by Simone Balthzersen – Bovilogisk, Denmark

Editor’s Note: This article was translated from its original version in Danish.  Click here for the original article.

January 2020 – One year ago Compex-GRUPPEN presented a new teatscrubber at NutriFair in Fredericia, Denmark. The interest for the teatscrubber was big, and it can be seen again at NutriFair 2020.

The teatscrubber is produced by the US-company FutureCow and Compex says that this tool will contribute to get a better milk quality.

According to Compex the teatscrubber wash, desinfect, stimulate and dry the teat in the same process. The routine is the same every time. The cow accustoms to the teatscrubber from the first milking. On the other hand the milker has to learn how to use it. This is our experience from the users. The milker must be concentrated to use it right. But it is the same if the milker use cloths, you must be concentrated to have an effect, says Per Andersen, Compex.

He points out, that it is important to use 10-12 seconds on each cow to get the optimal effect. If you use the teatscrubber right, then you minimize the bacteria on the teat with more than 90%.

In addition to a better preparation of the cow, Per Andersen says, that using the teatscrubber result in a shorter milking time, a lower SCC, lesser new-infected and lesser mastitis and you save costs for cloths and washing machine.

Positive Feedback

In the first year Compex has sold and installed 25 installations in Denmark, which has given a lot of positive feed-back.

One of the satisfied buyers and users of the teatscrubber is Niels Kristian Nielsen, manager of Dunkærgård on Ærø. The owner of Dunkærgård is Bent Juul Sørensen. He haves 475 Jersey cows in older cowshed. They have been used the teatscrubber since the 2th September 2019. After two weeks run-in period they saw an effect of the scrubber. “The milking-time is reduced 10-15 minutes per each milking, because of a better preparation. The cows lay down milk as soon as the milking machine is attached. There is nearly no waste of milk anymore where the cows are laying. It was a problem before”, Niels Kristian Nielsen says.

The health of the udder has been better. “SCC is reduced with more than 100.000, so now we get the highest extra charge for the milk every time. The last three weeks the SCC has been 175.000 and stabile. I am very satisfied, if we can keep this level, because we have older cowshed with many cows”, says Niels Kristian Nielsen. He estimates that the lower SCC level gives round 15.000 dollars more per year for the high-quality milk.

The Days Using Cloths and Machine Washing Are Over

Per Andersen from Compex introduced Niels Kristian Nielsen for the teatscrubber and after a talk with a college, which also use the scrubber, Niels Kristian decided to test on a mobile installation with approval from Compex.

“I was very surprised about the weight of the scrubber. It is not heavy and it is easy to use and fits well in hand, compared to the teatscrubbers we could buy 10-15 years ago – they were much to heavy and difficult to use”, Niels Kristian says.

He has also noticed, that the scrubber allows a better working position for the milker, because he do not stretch so much to reach for the teats. With six employees milking in shifts, it is important for Niels Kristian, that the preparation of the cows is the same no matter who is milking.

“It has been difficult to get the same routines, even how much we have been training. This is one of the reasons why we bought the teatscrubber. If we use the same time on each cow, then we obtain the same preparation on each cow, every time”, he says. According to the manager, the cows get used to the scrubber at once.

“What took the longest time for the milkers were to find out, how long 10 seconds is”, says Niels Kristian Nielsen. He tells us, that they use five seconds for washing, disinfect and stimulate and then five seconds for drying.

“We are happy to get rid of the cloths and washing machine. Before we were changing the heating element every three or four months”, says the manager.