TITLE:
Effects of season calving and managements on lactating curves in two different farms (organic vs conventional) in buffalo cows
AUTHORS:
Fiorella Sarubbi, Franca Polimeno, Giuseppe Auriemma, Giuseppe Maglione, Rodolfo Baculo, Raffaele Palomba
KEYWORDS:
Buffalo; Organic and Traditional Farm; Milk Yield; Milk Constituent; Season Calving
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
29,
2013
ABSTRACT: A total of 5852 records concerning daily milk yield, content of protein
and fat, and somatic cell count was recorded in two farms (organic and conventional). Somatic cell count was log10- transformed before analysis because was not normally distributed. The mixed model
methodology was used according to a repeated-measures scheme, as the restricted maximum likelihood method to estimate
lactation curves at different season of
calving and at different calving order. Calving order affected
milk yield only in the first three calving order with the lowest production
levels in the first six months of the year for both farm; no effect could be
observed on fat and protein contents. The organic farm shows the
minor milk production (7.77 vs8.10 kg/day/head organic and traditional respectively), but good qualitative characteristics of milk, and minor content of Somatic Cell
Count. The milk production is major, in
traditional farm, in summer respect the winter (10.4 vs6.34
kgof milk/day/ head). In biological
farm no difference between seasons were
observed. Peak milk yield occurs, for both farms, at around the 6th - 7th wk of lactation.