Studies on ten years breeding of Holsteins on Karacabey State Farm III. Milk production

Orhan ALPAN; Nadir ARITAN

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Studies on ten years breeding of Holsteins on Karacabey State Farm III. Milk production

Orhan ALPAN ,Nadir ARITAN

- The aim of this study was to investigate some important milk production characteristics of Karacabey Holsteins and to determine their milk producing abilities under the conditions of Marmara region. The foundation stock consisting of 25 cows in this experiment were imported from the U.S.A.. There were also 65 cows descending from this stock which completed their first lactations on the farm. A total number of 323 lactations were studied in this experiment.

The first calving age of Karacabey Holsteins was estimated to be two years seven months which is in the range of the breed character for first calving. The mean lactation leght was found 318 days. The cows were milked by hand until 1969 and then milking machines were brought in to use on the farm. So the data were grouped according to the milking methods and also to the number of lactations. The milk fat percentage was not affected significantly by milking method and number of lactation. The average milk fat percentage was estimated as 3.66 for the herd.

The mean actual milk and milk fat yields for all the lactations were 3666 kg and 134 kg, respectively. The average actual milk and milk fat yields increased from first to the fourth lactation and then showed a decrease as the lactation number increased. The differences for the milk and milk fat yields among the different lactations were highly significant. The average yields decreased in the first two years when the milking method was changed to machine milking. However the occurence of leptospirosis and unusual drought may also be responsible for the low production in these years. The average 2 x 305 ME milk fat yields were found 3838 kg and 140 kg, respectively. It is believed that milk production of Holsteins may be easily increased by improving feeding conditions on the farm.

Depending on the results obtained it may be concluded that Holsteins would be able to show the characteristics production performance of the breed and be successfully raised in Marmara region. Keywords :