Studies on ewe's milk

Abstract

SUMMARYThis paper reports a continuation of previous work on the mineral constituents of ewe's milk, in particular copper, iron, manganese and zinc. Milk taken at weekly intervals from four groups of Clun Forest and Suffolk x Clun Forest ewes was studied over lactations varying from 6 to 12 weeks. The copper content showed a marked decline as the lactation advanced, while there was no consistent trend in iron content. Maximum, minimum and mean values for iron and copper are given for the sheep in each group.Manganese was determined in the milk from two groups and zinc in. that from one group of ewes. There were significant differences in weekly manganese content in both groups, but no consistent trend as lactation advanced. Zinc content showed no significant differences from week to week, but the milk of one ewe was consistently very much lower in zinc than that of the other five sheep.