AbstractOostra, H. H. 2004. TECHNICAL AND MANAGEMENT TOOLS IN DAIRYPRODUCTION. Improvements in automatic milking systems and detection of cows withdeviating behaviour. Doctoral thesis. ISSN 1652-6880, ISBN 91-576-7010-2The introduction of Automatic Milking Systems (AMS) has created new aspects both in theplanning of dairy cowsheds due to the necessity of directing cow traffic, and in general cowmanagement.. The aims of this thesis was to study some of these aspects, such as, the effect offeeding frequency on Waiting Time at the AMS, cowshed facility utilization, and the effectsof light Conditioned Reinforcement on the time needed for cows to leave the AutomaticMilking Unit (AMU) after a successful milking. In addition, a method to trace cows in a loosehousing system and a method to detect cows with deviating locomotion were evaluated. Theresults of these studies are given in five different papers.In the first experiment it is shown that increasing the forage feeding frequency cansubstantially reduce the cow waiting time before an AMU. The average waiting time at theAMU when feeding twice per day (08:00 and 16:00 hrs) was 755 sec. When the feedingfrequency was increased to six times per day (00:00; 04:00; 08:00; 12:00; 16:00 and 20:00 h,respectively), the waiting time decreased to 351 sec. The Feeding Activity Factor (the factordescribing the number of times a cow was observed at the feeding fence 10 min after a foragesupply) was also higher and the cowshed facilities in the waiting area (floor and cubicles)were more evenly used . No significant differences were found when comparing theutilization of the facilities in the cowshed, although the feeding fence tended to be moreevenly used when 6 feedings per day were given, in comparison to feeding twice daily.To maximise the number of milkings per day per milking stall, the use of the