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Effect of omitting one or two milkings weekly on lactational performance in dairy ewes

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dc.creator Hervás, Gonzalo
dc.creator Ramella, Jorge L.
dc.creator López, Secundino
dc.creator González, Jesús Salvador
dc.creator Mantecón, Ángel R.
dc.date 2008-06-12T11:18:42Z
dc.date 2008-06-12T11:18:42Z
dc.date 2006
dc.date.accessioned 2017-01-31T01:40:12Z
dc.date.available 2017-01-31T01:40:12Z
dc.identifier Journal of Dairy Research 73: 207-215 (2006)
dc.identifier 0022-0299
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10261/5033
dc.identifier.uri http://dspace.mediu.edu.my:8181/xmlui/handle/10261/5033
dc.description The definitive version is available at:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022029905001603
dc.description We investigated the effects of omitting one or two milkings weekly on milk yield and milk composition in dairy sheep. Ninety Spanish Assaf ewes were allocated to three experimental treatments: T0 (no milking omission; 14 milkings/week), T1 (omission of one evening milking per week; 13 milkings/week) and T2 (omission of two evening milkings per week; 12 milkings/ week). The experiment was extended for 11 weeks, from week 7 after lambing to week 17 of lactation. Once a week, daily milk production was recorded just before and after the omission. Milk quality and composition was analysed in lactation weeks 9, 13 and 16. Omission of one or two evening milkings each week resulted in an increase in milk production recorded the day immediately after the omission (27% for T1 and 16% for T2), which can be attributed to accumulation of milk in the udder cisterns. This increase did not compensate completely for the loss of yield in the omitted milking. The lack of significant differences among the three milking strategies in milk production (on average 1903, 2062 and 1833 ml/d for T0, T1 and T2, respectively) recorded before omission throughout the trial, would indicate the absence of residual effects of the omission on production in subsequent weeks. Treatment T2 resulted in a loss of milk production of approximately 39% during those days when milkings were omitted, representing a decrease of approximately 10% of the estimated weekly milk production. In relation to milk composition, milking omission led to significant increases in the fat and protein concentrations of the milk collected after the omission, whereas differences were not significant for the milk obtained before the omission. Despite the slight increase observed in treatment T2 after the milking omission, the somatic cell count was always far below that considered as indicative of possible pathologies. In conclusion, at least one evening milking could be omitted each week in high-producing dairy sheep without adversely affecting milk yield and milk composition.
dc.description G Hervás and JL Ramella acknowledge receipt of a research contract (Programa I3P) from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Spain) supported by the European Social Fund and a predoctoral fellowship from the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC, Brazil), respectively.
dc.description Peer reviewed
dc.format 120100 bytes
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language eng
dc.publisher Cambridge University Press
dc.publisher Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina
dc.rights openAccess
dc.subject Assaf
dc.subject Dairy sheep
dc.subject Milking frequency
dc.subject Milk yield
dc.subject Milk composition
dc.title Effect of omitting one or two milkings weekly on lactational performance in dairy ewes
dc.type Artículo


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