Influence of milking units and working vacuum level on the mechanical milking of goats.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate and compare the effect of working vacuum levels (35 and 44 kPa) and liners dimensions (mouthpiece lip diameter and overall length, 20-185 and 22-170 mm) on the main milking characteristics of goats. The results highlight that both the working vacuum level and the liner dimension have influenced the milk flow curve parameters. The maximum variations were found for peak flow rate, which increased significantly with liner dimensions of 20-185 mm at a working vacuum level of 44 kPa as well as average milk flow rate and for plateau phase duration.

Sizing Milking Groups in Small Cow Dairies of Mediterranean Countries.

A dairy farmer chooses the number of milking groups in function of the herd size, stall type and milking system also in small cow dairies (number of animals lower than 100-120). In these dairies, there are different milking systems (bucket, trolley, pipeline, little autotandem, herringbone or parallel parlors) and each of them has a different work routine. The knowledge of the routine is the starting point for assessing the milking installation, because it determines the number of milked cows per hour.

Vibration and Noise Transmitted by Agricultural Backpack Powered Machines Critically Examined Using the Current Standards.

European Directives 2002/44/EC and 2003/10/EC establish the exposure limit values for preventing operators' risks to vibration and noise transmitted by machines. Few studies studied noise and vibration of agricultural backpack powered machines (as mist blowers and blowers), but nobody critically studied them. This work analyzed the field back vibration, hand-arm vibration (HAV), and noise transmitted to ten operators by eight blowers and mist blowers.

Vibration and impulsivity analysis of hand held olive beaters.

To provide more effective evaluations of hand arm vibration syndromes caused by hand held olive beaters, this study focused on two aspects: the acceleration measured at the tool pole and the analysis of the impulsivity, using the crest factor. The signals were frequency weighted using the weighting curve Wh as described in the ISO 5349-1 standard. The same source signals were also filtered by the Wh-bl filter (ISO/TS 15694), because the weighting filter Wh (unlike the Wh-bl filter) could underestimate the effect of high frequency vibration on vibration-induced finger disorders.