Some production traits and phenotypic relationships betweenudder and production traits of Hair goats

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the production characteristics and to find out the phenotypic relationships between udder and milk production traits in Hair goats. A total of 403 Hair Goats under extensive conditions of Çine town of Aydin province of Turkey were constituted the animal material of the study. The live weights of all goats were recorded just before breeding season. Milk was measured in every month according to the basis of morning or evening milking in a day to estimation of milk yields. Live weights of kids were recorded monthly intervals. Measurements for udder characteristics were determined for two times at 30th and at 180th of the lactation period. Average lactation length, lactation milk yield and daily milk yield of goats were 192.4 days, 139.1 kg and 0.7 kg, respectively. The live weights at birth, 30th, 60th, 90th and 120th days of goat kids were 3.1, 8.6, 13.9, 19.1 and 24.5 kg, respectively. Mean values of withers height, body length and live weight of goats were measured as 73.2 cm, 71.3 cm and 54.5 kg, respectively. Udder and teat characteristics of goats were found positively correlated with milk production characteristics both 30th and 180th days of the lactation period. It can be concluded that Hair goats in extensive conditions had a substantial level of milk yield and their kids had sufficient levels of live weight gains. Furthermore, the udder measurements at the beginning of the lactation could be used for identifying the differences among does.