Once-daily milking of Holstein cows for one-week decreases milk yield by twenty-five percent without any carry-over effect

Short-term (i.e. several days) once-daily milking (ODM) of dairy cows could help to improve work organization or quality of life for dairy farmers. ODM implemented during three periods of one week in the descending phase of lactation led to an average 23.4% decrease in the milk yield of 9 Holstein cows compared to 9 other cows on twice-daily milking (TDM). Short-term ODM significantly increased fat content (by 4.5 g/kg on average) and somatic cell count (by 73,000 cells/mL) and decreased lactose content by 1.9 g/kg. Protein content increased (by 2.1 g/kg) only in the third period. When twice-daily milking was resumed, there were no longer between-group differences in daily yields of milk, fat, protein, and somatic cells.