Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 18 ISSUE 3
Written by Rodica CHETROIU

Considering that the form and size of the goat's udder can influence its productive capacity, a series of measurements of certain dimensions of the udder at Romanian breeds Alba de Banat and Carpatina were performed, as follows: large perimeter of the udder, small perimeter of the udder, prior depth of the udder, back deepness of udder, length of udder, length and thickness of nipples. The primary data obtained was statistically processed using statistical functions available in Microsoft Excel and the main statistical parameters were determined: arithmetic mean, standard error of mean and variability coefficient. The udder measurements indicated that, in both breeds, the udder suffers transformations along lactations; thus, with regard to the large perimeter, as well as the small perimeter of the udder, the largest dimension is reached at the 3rd lactation, after which it begins to decrease. These dimensional evolutions indicate that the udder increases its capacity over the productive life of the animal in order to store the quantity of the milk. The same transformation curve has the nipples in the sense that both their length and thickness are amplified until the 3rd lactation and then begin to diminish. The length of the udder is higher at Carpatina by 20.3% than Alba de Banat, suggesting a longer form, but nipples at Alba de Banat are longer (by 9%) and thicker (by 22.7%) compared to Carpatina, so it is better suited to the mechanical milking.

[Read full article] [Citation]

SPUPOPUPNO1