Machine milking ability and milk composition of some imported dairy goat breeds and some crosses in Greece

A random sample of 40 goats was used to study the partitioning, yield and composition of milk: 8 of Saanen breed (S), 8 of Damascus breed (D), 8 crossbreds Saanen × Local Greek goat (S × L), 8 backcrosses Saanen × Local Greek goat {(S × L) × S} and 8 crossbreds Saanen × Alpine (S × A). Four dams of each genotype were of the first and four of the second parity. Goats were milked twice daily (8:00, 18:00 h) in a 1 × 12 side by side milking parlour with 6 milking units. Milk yield and milk fractions (machine milk, machine stripped milk and hand stripped milk) were recorded twice daily each 14 days (from 7 th -8 th to 29 th week of lactation). Milk composition was examined once a month separately for morning and afternoon samples. The ponderable mean was used for the calculation of milk fat, protein and lactose percentage. The results of the experiment showed that milk partitioning in purebred and crossbred goats ranged on satisfactory levels (machine milk - MM: morning 69.8-81.6%, afternoon 66.2-77.4%; machine stripping milk - MSM: morning 12.2-19.3%, afternoon 19.2-23.4%; hand stripping milk - HSM: morning 6.1-10.9%, afternoon 5.4-11.9%; total machine milk - TMM: morning 89-94.6%, afternoon 88-94.6%). The effect of breed (crossbred) was found to be significant for all milk fractions (ml and %, P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, respectively). The effect of parity was significant except for MSM (%) and HSM (%). The effect of lactation stage (control day) and the animals was also found to be significant ( P < 0.001). The fat percentage of S, D, S × L, S × A and (S × L) × L was 3.82, 5.1, 4.8, 3.88 and 3.95%, respectively ( P < 0.001). Protein percentage ranged from 3.1 to 3.6% in the different genotypes ( P < 0.001) while lactose percentage was from 4.51 to 4.66%. In conclusion it may be said that imported dairy goat breeds and different crosses with local Greek breed are characterized by good milkability. So the best technique of machine milking is the "routine" milk - ing without applying hand stripping.