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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
Previously reported results indicate that milk production and somatic cell counts were improved by the habituation of replacement heifers to the milking parlour prior to calving (Wicks, et al 2003). Rushen, et al. (2001) reported that when mature cows were milked in unfamiliar surroundings, milk yield, milk flow rate and milking duration were affected due to increased stress (Rushen, et al. 2001). The objective of the current study was to investigate the effects of habituating Holstein-Friesian and Norwegian heifers to the milking parlour pre-calving on subsequent milking parlour behaviour.