Search

Buffalo economic exploitation for milk production is a new fact in the southernmost Brazilian region. The production chain structuring of this activity was started in the year 2000, and nowadays dairy products, identified and labeled as such, are available in the consumer market. However, the present-day dairy products output corresponds to only 50% of market demand. The aim of this paper is to evaluate buffalo milk produced in Rio Grande do Sul state both qualitatively and quantitatively as a subsidy for the adoption of a breeding program and the development or adaptation of technologies so that this cattle-raising activity has a greater financial appeal. Two properties are currently under evaluation, each of them holding approximately 70 lactating females from Murrah and Mediterranean breeds. The feeding system used is pasture, with supplement in wintertime. Total milk production of each female is measured every 28 days, and individual milk samples are collected for chemical analysis and somatic cell count (SCC). Data collection started in February 2009, as far as October 2009, 900 samples had already been collected. The mean milk production per animal was 7,01±1,13 kg for the Murrah breed and 3,24±0,61 kg for the Mediterranean. Quality traits were 4,45±0,24 and 3,73±0,41% (fat); 3,83±0,26 and 3,82±0,49% (proteins); 5,04±0,08 and 5,20±0,16% (lactose); 14,47±0,46 and 13,85±0,81% (total solids) and SCC mean value was 112,765±75,269 and 50,222±24,952 cell/ml for the Murrah and Mediterranean breeds, respectively. These quantity and quality differences can be attributed to the feeding system, management and individual variations, in addition to animal breed. Preliminary data have shown that a genetic improvement program and the development or adaptation of technologies from different areas of knowledge is vital to obtain higher productivity so that this can be a viable activity in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]