Milk Flow Rate and Milking Frequency in Red Sokoto Goats

Abstract

Twenty-four Red Sokoto goats were hand milked for 120 days to determine milk flow rate. The does were grouped into three for once, twice and thrice a day milking to determine the effect of milkin g frequency on milk flow rate. The average daily milk yield and milk flow rate was 466.9g and 3.5g/sec, respectively. Milking frequency significantly (P<0.01) influenced milk yield and milk flow rate. The higher the milking frequency, the higher the milk yield, but with a decreasing flow rate. Milk yield and milk flow rate were significantly (P<0.01) and positively correlated (r = 0.88). Both milk yield and flow rate reached their peak at the 4 week of production. The optimum milking frequency for Red Sokoto goat in this study was the twice th daily milking, since there was 52.7% increase in milk yield from once a day, with a marginal 7.9% reduction in milk flow rate.