Study on the milkability of cows of the Bulgarian Rhodope cattle breed

Atanaska Zgurova and Vasil Nikolov

Abstract: The milkability of 18 cows on the 30th day after calving was examined based on 178 individual measurements performed over 5 consecutive days. The cows subject to the study were form the local mountain Bulgarian Rhodope cattle breed. The average daily milk yield of the cows was 16.5 ± 0.12 kg. The milkability was relatively low – 1.197±0.016 kg/min which did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) during the morning (1.232±0.022 kg/min) and the evening (1.161±0.024) milking. The reason for the low milkability was the long decreasing phase of the lactation curve after reaching the peak of the milk flow, which started from the third minute and took up more than ¾ of the total milking time. The milk flow peak was achieved at the first minute during the evening and at 1min and 30 s during morning milking. The peak values were retained for 1 min and 30 s with 10% of the total milk quantity being milked every 30 s (30% per 1.5 min). 38.6% of the total milk quantity per milking was removed during the first 2 min, 57.7% – during the first three min, and 90.01% – for 6 min. The milkability was significantly affected by the milking interval (P < 0.001) and the milking time (P < 0.001). The milkability (kg/min) was more considerably dependent on the milking time (Rp = -0.693; P < 0.001) and less on the milk yield (Rp = +0.563; P < 0.001).

Keywords: Bulgarian Rhodope cattle; milk cow; milkability; workability

Date published: 2022-11-01