Studies on Working Posture and Labor Burden in Milking Work

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Farm Work Research Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 249 - 256
• Main Authors: KOMIYA, Michio, KAWAKAMI, Katsumi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japanese Society of Farm Work Research 1996
• ISSN: 0389-1763; 1883-2261
• DOI: 10.4035/jsfwr.31.249

Also in dairy farming, mechanization has advanced, but milking is a still routine work requiring much manpower. In this study, it was attempted to evaluate labor burdens by examining working posture, heart rate and breathing count in milking routines of the pipeline system and the rotary milking parlor. 1) The posture characteristic in the pipeline system was knees bent at an angle of 40-50° while the milking unit was being attached or removed. Backbone was bent at the waist at an angle of 40° when taking a cleaning towel from the cart. When attaching the unit to the milk-tap, an upper arm was raised at a horizontal angle of 90° or more. 2) The angles of knee and waist did not shift largely in the parlor system, but the frequencies that raise an upper arm at an angle of 50° or more were higher than in the pipeline system. 3) Changes in energy consumption during the milking routine, as calculated by examining heart rate, were fewer in the parlor system than in the pipeline system. In the pipeline system, RMR and the increase in heart rate were higher with averages of 5.3 and 1.7, respectively, comparing 3.7 and 1.3 in the parlor system. Because energy consumptions changed during the routine work and progressively increased as it progressed, the labor burden in the pipeline system is evaluated to be heavier than that of the parlor system.