A Global Perspective On Automatic Milking Systems Rules And Regulations

Abstract

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Paper Presented at the First North American Conference on Robotic Milking 20-22 March 2002, Toronto Canada Introduction There are a variety of rules and regulations in the many milk-producing countries of the world governing the production of raw milk, including the general areas of: • Milk Quality and Safety • Milking Machine Performance, and • Worker and Animal Welfare. The existing rules and regulations for milk production have been developed over many years and are meant to apply to the types milking equipment and management practices commonly used in the field. Automatic milking (AM), particularly when it is unattended by a person (as is the common implementation), has required that these regulatory structures be re-examined to clarify the desired end goal and determine how they might be best applied to this new technology and management situation. This paper will present an overview of the challenges in adapting existing rules and regulations to the situations in which AM is employed. The Regulatory Process in the European Union EEC Directive 92/46/EEC defines the requirements for animal health and the milk quality parameters of Somatic Cell Count and Bacteria Count in the EU (EEC, 1992). EEC Directive 89/362/EEC establishes the general conditions for hygiene on dairy farms (EEC, 1989). This directive states that: