O71. Voluntary milking systems:an option to capture higher individual milk yields on pasture-based dairy farms. [conference abstract].
Intensified pasture-based systems have proven to be the most profitable option for the Uruguayan dairy industry. However, it is unknown if their biophysical performance is attainable with voluntary milking systems (VMS), an alternative recently explored to make dairy more attractive to future generations. The aim of this study was to compare milk production (MP) of two pasture-based production systems:a conventional milking system (CMS), where cow flow is forced, and a VMS, where cow flow is voluntary.