Key points

• Milking cows once a day (OAD) or three times every two days takes the pressure off cows by reducing energy expenditure and the incidence of heat stress in summer, especially if walking long distances to be milked.
• Milking OAD can also reduce stress on staff and free up time to do other tasks such as feeding out.
• Milking OAD can help cows reach body condition score (BCS) targets and set the farm up to maximise days in milk from autumn pasture growth.
• If cows continue to be fed well, milking OAD will reduce milk production by approximately 10%.
• Milking cows three times every two days (~16 hour milking interval) will not reduce milk production unless dry matter intake is also reduced.
• It is far better to plan to milk OAD before feed runs short than to be forced into it by a severe shortage of feed.