MILK YIELD, UDDER AND TEAT DIMENSIONS BEFORE AND AFTER MILKING OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF DOES AT EARLY LACTATION AND AT FIRST PARITY

Abstract

Udder dimensions before and after milking was studied from 72 weekly records of 12 lactating West African goats. Positive and significant (P<0.0001) phenotypic correlations were observed between udder circumference before milking and distance between teat before milking. A study on the comparative evaluation of udder dimensions before and after milking was carried out using twelve (12) lactating WAD does for six weeks of lactation. The dams were milked once in week after isolation of their respective kid(s) for 15hr (5.00pm to 8.00am). Udder circumference before milking had positive and significant correlations with distance between teat before milking (0.61; P<0.0001), udder circumference before milking and udder circumference after milking (0.35; P<0.001), udder circumference before milking and udder length before milking (0.32;P<0.001), udder circumference before milking and distance between teat after milking (0.25; P<0.01) but negative correlation with teat length after milking (-0.25; P<0.01). Udder circumference (P<0.0001), udder length (P<0.0001), distance between teat (P<0.01) and height of teat from the ground (P<0.01) reduced significantly after milking while udder width, teat circumference and teat width remained unchanged after milking. Therefore, these traits should be taken into consideration when selecting for milk production in West African goats.