Factors Affecting Milk Production in Buffaloes: A Case Study (original) (raw)

Some Factors Affecting Milk Yield and Lactation Length in Nili Ravi Buffaloes

2000

Effects of parity, lactation length, calving season, calf sex and service period on milk yield for 426 records in 134 Nili Ravi buffaloes maintained at the National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad Pakistan during 1988-2004 were evaluted. The effects of parity, calving season, calf sex and service period were also recorded on lactation length of these buffaloes. The overall average milk

Effect of Pregnancy on Lactation Milk Value in Dairy Buffaloes

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 2008

Buffalo are a major source of milk production, contributing 12.1% in the World and 38.0% in Asia. The buffaloes are kept under peri-urban farming systems to produce milk for urban populations. Breeding is delayed in these herds to get more economic benefit because farmers believe that the pregnancy decreases milk production. The lactation milk value has been studied in this paper as an economic indicator. Complete milk yield records of 3,304 buffaloes was collected from a group of state farms. Economic traits including lactation yield, lactation length, calving interval (CI), dry period and milk yield per day of calving interval (MYPDCI) were derived from the data. The animals were grouped according to parity number (1-3), service period (G1 to G4, conceiving during <150, 150-200, 200-300 and >300 days post calving) and yield levels (HMY>2,500; MMY 2,001-2,500; and LMY 1,500-2,000 liters/ lactation). To study the effect of pregnancy on milk composition a research trial was conducted at a medium size private dairy farm, using forty lactating buffaloes of three yield levels and four service period groups, as described already. Milk was sampled on alternate weeks and analyzed for fat and protein contents (%). For quantifying the value of milk produced during a lactation period, the value corrected milk (VCM) was determined and converted to lactation milk value (LMV). Group means were compared for various parameters. Highest milk yield (2,836.50±15.68 liters/lactation) was recorded in the HMY animals of G4 group while lowest milk yield of 1,657.04±18.34 liters/lactation was found in LMY of G1. Lactation was significantly increased with the extending of service period. The shortest dry period was recorded in HMY, parity 1, G1 animals and the longest in parity 2, MMY, G4.The CI was shortest in HMY, parity 1, and G1 animals and longest in LMY, parity 3, G4 buffaloes. The HMY, parity 2, G1 buffaloes showed the highest MYPDCI and the lowest value was recorded (6.53±0.17 vs. 2.76±0.04 liter/day) for LMY, parity 1, G4 buffaloes. The VCM decreased with the delayed conception. This decreasing trend was higher in respect of the total yield but decrease in the VCM was smaller due to the increasing levels of fat and protein in the milk. The gap between the various production classes was reduced based on the VCM as compared with the yield per day of CI. LMV showed a consistent decline with extending service period in all three production groups. The study suggests that CI increased with delayed conception, showing a consistent trend in the low, moderate and high yielding buffaloes. There was a coherent declining pattern of milk yield with delaying conception, associated with prolonged CI. An animal conceiving at a later stage of lactation showed a decline in financial returns of 24 to 27% compared with those conceiving earlier. (

Effects of strategic dietary supplementation of buffaloes on economics of their milk production

Buffalo Bulletin, 2010

A study was carried out to elucidate the effect of strategic dietary supplementation on the economics of milk production in lactating buffaloes. The body weight of the animals was recorded before and after the experiment. Body weight recorded before the start of experiment in different groups was 554.5 + 4.66, 540.16 + 5.62, 552.9 + 4.36 and 542.1 + 7.26 kg while, at the end of experiment it was 557.20 + 5.0, 545.24 + 4.1, 547.99 + 4.1 and 538.88 + 5.0 kg, respectively. Milk yield of the animals recorded in different groups during the experimental period was 7.48 + 0.65, 7.54 + 0.54, 7.23 + 0.54 and 7.18 + 0.65 kg, respectively. The quantity of feed reduction was 1.28 and 1.65 kg/ animal/day in Groups 3 and 4 as compared to control group of animals. The economics of milk production calculated in different groups was 12.27, 12.09, 11.25 and 10.86 Rs of feed/ kg of milk production by the animals.

Milk yield and season of calving in buffaloes and cattle in Pakistan

Italian Journal of Animal Science, 2010

Seasonality of calving and its association with milk yield was analyzed in Nili-Ravi buffaloes and compared with Sahiwal cattle and Sahiwal (x Friesian or Jersey) crossbreds. Records of 9,174 lactations of Nili-Ravi buffaloes from four institutional herds, 22,499 lactations from five Sahiwal herds and 656 lactations from a crossbred cattle herd were used for comparison. All the herds were located in Punjab province of Pakistan where environment is tropical. Month of calving was important source of variation in lactation milk yield of Nili-Ravi buffaloes and Sahiwal cattle but not in crossbred cattle (due to wide variation). Interactions of month of calving with parity as well as with herd were significant (P<0.01) both for buffaloes and Sahiwal cattle. First parity lactation milk yield averaged 1813±23.2, 1305±11.0 and 2459±81.8 litres while averages of later parity animals were 1926±19.0, 1527±7.6 and 2842±54.2 litres for Nili-Ravi buffaloes, Sahiwal and crossbred cattle, respectively. Milk yield pattern in crossbreds was more similar to buffaloes than to Sahiwals. Yet, crossbreds calving in June produced statistically similar but numerically higher lactation milk yield (2950±170 litres) than other months but this was not true for buffaloes and Sahiwals. Buffaloes and Sahiwal cows calving in January-February produced better lactation yields than those calving in other months. Different pattern of milk yield in the three dairy species can be used advantageously for sustainable milk supply throughout the year.

THE RELATION BETWEEN MILK YIELD AND COMPOSITION OF INDIVIDUAL BUFFALOES

The Relation between Milk Yield and composition of Individual Buffaloes, 2015

Six hundred, weakly samples of buffalo milk were collected from 30 individual buffaloes "unknown its pedigree" (120 samples each month) from the 5 th day postpartum until the fifth month of lactation and analyzed for fat (F %), total protein (P %), lactose (L %), total solids content (TS %) and solids not fat (SNF %) and correlated with milk yield. Milk yield were collected twice daily and recorded monthly. With regard to the milk yield and its components, all correlation coefficients among the milk yield and major chemical constituents were highly significant (P<0.001) and varied from r=0.493*** between milk at first month and lactose contents to r =0.994*** between milk at fifth month and solid non fat. All correlation coefficients were almost negative and low between monthly milk yield and the percentage of its chemical constituents and significant correlation coefficient was observed between milk yield at the fifth month of lactation and the lactose percentage (r=0.377*).Correlation coefficients among average daily milk yield and major chemical constituents of the buffalo's milk were highly significant (P<0.001) with values ranged from (r=0.752***) between average daily yield of milk and fat to (r=0.984***) between average daily yield of milk and solid non fat, while correlation coefficients between chemical constituents of milk were ranged from (r=0.676***) between average daily yield of fat and lactose to (r=0.938***) between average daily yield of total solid and fat.

PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF BUFFALOES IN PESHAWAR UNDER FARM CONDITIONS

A study was carried out to know the productive performance of buffaloes maintained at Livestock Farm of NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan. The data of buffalo herd was analyzed on the basis of daily, morning, evening and monthly milk yield as well as in different seasons of the year. The average highest and lowest milk production was found from 6-9 litres and 4-5 litres daily per buffalo. Morning yield was found slightly higher than evening during some months. The season on individual yearly basis did not show uniform pattern of highest yield trend but the comparative analysis on cumulative basis (including all seasons of all years) showed highest trend in summer (77.25 litres), followed by autumn (71.07 litres), spring (68.9 litres) and winter (63.72 litres). It was concluded from the present study that the milk production of buffaloes can be maintained at their maximum potential provided some good management practices are established at the farm e.g. deworming in regular intervals, feeding balanced ration and concentrates, ample quantity of drinking water and special care for seasonal requirement of the species both in terms of feeding and management.

Role of Buffaloe in Contributing Milk and Meat in Pakistan

2010

Abstract Pakistan being an agricultural country supports a national herd of 28.4 million buffaloe which constitutes 8-10% of the global buffaloe population. Buffaloe contributes 72% of the national milk supply. Buffaloe is intricately interwoven with the social fabric of the rural families. In these areas it is mainly raised for milk production. Pakistan is the largest buffaloe meat producer followed by India, China, Thailand and Vietnam. The share of buffaloe's meat at national level is over 55%.

Characteristics Curve and Persistency of Lactation in Jaffarabadi (Bubalus bubalis) Buffaloes

Indian Journal of Veterinary Science and Biotechnology, 2022

Lactation milk yield in dairy bovines is closely related with, and therefore a function of, peak yield, persistency and lactation length. Therefore, characteristics, curve, and persistency of lactation were studied in Jaffarabadi (Bubalus bubalis) buffaloes. A total of 1,15,339 daily morning and evening milk production performance records in 176 lactations of 1 st to 6 th parity of 30 Jaffarabadi buffaloes lactating at the Cattle Breeding Farm, JAU, Junagadh, Gujarat over a period of 28 years (1991-2018) were used for the study. Overall lactation length (LL), total lactation milk yield (TLMY), and standard lactation milk yield (SLMY) of the Jaffarabadi buffalo averaged 325.90 ± 5.53 days, 2009.31 ± 42.13 lit and 1872.61 ± 32.88 lit, respectively. Overall daily peak yield (DPY) was 11.27 ± 0.20 lit/day, attained at 102.00 ± 4.68 days postpartum. Overall weekly peak yield (WPY) and weeks to attain WPY averaged 64.79 ± 1.09 lit/week and 13.72 ± 0.64 weeks, respectively. Weekly milk yield could be predicted using linear function [(ŷ = 59.149 + (-0.6634) × X)] and logarithmic function [(ŷ = 1.80 × (-0.0008)^X)] with an accuracy of 66 to 73%. In contrast, monthly milk yield could be predicted using linear function [(ŷ = 261.64 + (-13.229) × X)] and logarithmic function [(ŷ = 2.45 × (-0.035)^X)] with comparatively more precision, R 2 value being 79.7 to 81.2 %. Overall persistency in terms of weekly and monthly milk yield was estimated to be 98.03±0.24% and 91.24±0.59%, respectively.

Modeling and Management of Post-Conception Decline in Milk Yield of Dairy Buffaloes

Canadian Journal of Plant Science

Dairy buffalo farmers in Pakistan avoid postpartum rebreeding due to fear in milk yield decline. Under the present study reduction in milk yield due to pregnancy was worked out using 23 pregnant and 17 non–pregnant buffaloes under field conditions and the decline was managed through feed supplementation treatments. The treatments provided were Pregnant with traditional ration (PRT), pregnant with supplemented ration (PRS) and non pregnant with traditional ration (NPRT). The animals were categorized into high milk yielder (HMY), medium milk yielder (MMY) and low milk yielder (LMY), producing 66-75, 56-65, and 46-55 liters/wk, respectively. Milk production was recorded up to 23rd week post-conception. The reduction in milk yield became significant on 7th week post-conception. The line JP8 model gave good fit (R 2 = 0.9527). In the high yielder, the predicted reduction was highest (-4.48 liters/wk) than moderate and low yielder (-2.37 and -0.94 liters/wk). In the high yielder the decli...