Milk yield of West African Dwarf sheep as affected by udder stimulation, stage of lactation and parity

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the milk yield of West African Dwarf sheep as affected by udder stimulation, stage of lactation and parity. The study involves 12 matured lactating ewes weighing between 16 and 24 kg live weights in a semi intensive system of management. For udder stimulation, the animals were divided into 2 groups; 6 animals were stimulated by massaging, cleaning and drying the udder for 2 minutes before milking while the other 6 were not stimulated, the udder were just milked. Stage of lactation was divided into 4; early, mid, late, and very late respectively with 3weeks interval for all the animals. 4 animals were on first parity while 8 animals were on second parity. The animals were allowed to graze on an established paddock consisting of Stylosanthes hamata, Panicum maximum, Pennisetum purpureum etc. for 5 hours and then supplemented with concentrate (17% CP at 5% body weight). Each quarter of the udder was hand milked unilaterally twice per week at 8.00am for 12 weeks. The result of the study showed that daily milk yield in each of the quarter of the udder (left and right) was not significantly (P>0.05) different. Udder stimulation and stage of lactation had significant (P<0.05) effect on daily milk yield while parity and mammary gland position (left and right ) did not significantly affect daily milk yield. The interaction between udder stimulation and stage of lactation as well as interaction between udder stimulation and parity had significant (P><0.05) effect on daily milk yield in WAD sheep. Therefore it is recommended that sheep udder be stimulated at late and very late stages of lactation to enhance milk production. ><0.05) effect on daily milk yield while parity and mammary gland position (left and right ) did not significantly affect daily milk yield. The interaction between udder stimulation and stage of lactation as well as interaction between udder stimulation and parity had significant (P<0.05) effect on daily milk yield in WAD sheep. Therefore it is recommended that sheep udder be stimulated at late and very late stages of lactation to enhance milk production.