Patent ID: 8573155

Claim:
A milking system comprising: a milking machine ( 110 ) configured to automatically extract milk from a milking animal (A) during a milking procedure; an identification arrangement ( 120 ) configured to identify an animal (A) and to provide said animal (A) with access to the milking machine ( 110 ) only when a set of milk permission criteria are fulfilled for that animal (A); a cell counter unit ( 130 ) configured to determine a quality parameter (Qcc) reflecting a somatic cell concentration for the milk extracted from said animal (A), the cell counter unit ( 130 ) comprising i) a sampling unit ( 210 ) configured to take a sample of the milk being extracted from said animal (A) during a current milking procedure, and ii) a counter unit ( 220 , 230 ) configured to determine the quality parameter (Qcc) by registering a true number of somatic cells per unit volume in said sample; and a control unit ( 140 ) configured to receive the quality parameter (Qcc) and in response to the quality parameter (Qcc), assign a milk permission interval (MP) determining an earliest point in time, after the current milking, at which point in time the set of milk permission criteria for said animal (A) are again enabled to be fulfilled.