MILKING PARLORS’ THROUGHPUT FOR DAIRY SHEEP AND FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE IT

The aim of this study was to investigate the parlors’ throughput for dairy ewes and influencing factors in some European countries and in Greece. A great progress was done in this direction with the simultainous improvement of the animals’ milkability, the technological characteristics of milking machines and the technical knowledge provided to the farmers. Nowadays the average parlors’ throughput for the “Casse” system milking machines is 160-200 ewes/milker/h, while for the “Carrousel” type milking machines it is 200-280 ewes/milker/h. In the case of installation of the automatic cup removal system the parlors’ throughput ranges between 300-400 ewes/milker/h. In Greece, the average throughput for the “Casse” system parlors was found to range from 59 to 127 ewes/milker/h, while for the “Carrousel” type milking machines was found around 90-100 ewes/milker/h.