Factors affecting milking speed in Murciano-Granadina breed goats

Abstract

Milk flow during the first minute of milking was analyzed using data from 1,132 Murciano-Granadina breed goats belonging to 17 herds. During the individual lactations, 2 test days were scheduled for recording several milk flow traits, total milk, milk composition (fat and protein percentages), and somatic cell count. Average lag time from teatcup attachment to arrival of milk at the milk claw (T0) was 4.9 s and at the milk meter (T1) was 15.8 s. Average milk flow after 30 s (MF0.5) was 0.29 kg/30 s (0 to 1.1 kg/30 s) and milk flow at 60 s or milking speed (MF1) was 0.67 kg/min (0.1 to 2.1 kg/min). Repeatabilities of T0, T1, MF0.5, and MF1 were 0.45, 0.58, 0.62, and 0.68, respectively. The MF1 showed high phenotypic correlation with T1 (−0.63) and MF0.5 (0.90), medium values with T0 (−0.42) and total milk (0.22), and very low values (−0.04 to −0.12) with fat, protein, and somatic cell count. We found no differences between flows during the first 3 lactations, with a reduction as the lactation number increased. Months in milk since parturition affected MF1, being highest in the first 3 mo (0.67–0.71 kg/ min) and decreasing until the end of lactation (0.58 kg/ min). The effect of herd-test day was significant for all traits. Inclusion of all these effects for the analysis of milk flow traits is considered necessary.