H. SABKOV and I. IVANOV
Institute of Soil Science, Agro Technologies and Plant Protection “N. Pushkarov”, BG – 13331 Sofia, Bulgaria
Sabkov, H. and I. Ivanov, 2016. Evaluation of the operational characteristics of sheep milking installation. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22 (Suppl. 1): 146–150
An operational study of sheep milking installation DIO-24 has been carried out. The values of “Labour productivity per hour net milking time, W1” and “Labour productivity per hour operational milking time, W02“ were found:
The relative values of the time for performing: technological operations during the actual milking (Т1), preparatory (Т2) and terminative (Т3) technological operations have been established. Significant influence on the duration of the technological operations cause the level of productivity and the stage of lactation period, as the increase of Т1 is proportional to the increase of the productivity and the increase of both Т2 and Т3 is inversely proportional to the increase of productivity. The relative value of Т1 varies from 61.88 % to 68.95 % аnd the total relative value of auxiliary technological times (Т2 + Т3) - from 31.05 to 38.11 %.
The study of the relationship between the duration of the auxiliary technological operations (Т2 + Т3) and the design of DIO-24 gives grounds to conclude that the relatively high values of the auxiliary technological operations are caused by the design of fixation system, based on “The principle of arbitrary fixation”. A possible approach to overcome these disadvantages is to implement a fixation system, based on the “principle of arranged fixation”. Such an approach helps for improving of the organization of animals movement on the milking platform, reducing the time for performing of auxiliary technological operations and improving the operatrional characteristics of milking installation.
Key words: sheep breeding; milking; milking installation; operational characteristics