Unsatisfactory milking conditions, including high milking vacuum, ineffective
pulsation, heavy clusters, unsuitable liners, poor teat preparation and over-milking,
are known to create poor, but undefined, teat conditions and pose a risk to an
increased probability of intramammary infection (IDF, 1994). It has been shown
that poor teat condition, seen as discolouration, abnormal firmness or thickened
rings of tissue distally, after cluster removal may be common in a variety of
commercial milking operations (Hillerton et al. 2000). That field study was
observational and teat conditions were influenced by a number of variables. A small
experimental study has been undertaken to develop an experimental model, under
controlled milking conditions, to allow investigation of potential causes of teat
trauma. Over-milking was suggested as highly important in the field observations
and so has been examined in this study.