Effect of ewes entry order into milking parlour on milkability and milk composition

Abstract

The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate how the order in which the ewes in a milking group enter the milking parlour affects their milkability and milk composition. Therefore, the order of entry into the milking parlour was evaluated in ewes of one flock (n = 353) during six evening milkings. In all, the sheep were milked in 15 milking groups. The sheep entering the milking parlour in the first milking group achieved 15 points and the sheep of each next milking group one point less, i.e. the sheep of the last group achieved 1 point. In the analysis, only the ewes with the highest and the lowest average number of points were included and assigned to the first (FG, n = 19) and the last group (LG, n = 29), respectively. After the last milking, the individual milk samples were collected from the jar to analyze the composition and somatic cell count. Machine milk yield in 30 s (0.15 ± 0.09 and 0.11 ± 0.05 l) and 60 s (0.26 ± 0.16 and 0.19 ± 0.10 l), peak flow rate (1.04 ± 0.39 and 0.77 ± 0.29 l/min), and latency time (14 ± 3 and 20 ± 13 s) significantly differed (P < 0.05) between FG and LG, respectively. Total milk yield (0.41 ± 0.17 and 0.35 ± 0.14 l) and machine milk yield (0.27 ± 0.15 and 0.22 ± 0.10 l) tended to be higher (P = 0.05 and P = 0.09) in FG than in LG, respectively. No significant differences were observed in milk composition between FG and LG. It seems that ewes which enter the milking parlour in early milking groups have better parameters of milkability than those milked in later groups.