Analysis of the composition of milk in the first three lactations in Ayrshire cattle across four decades.

Knight, Roxanne B.; McEwan, Neil R.

Abstract

Using historic lactation records for Ayrshire cattle, we report a gradual increase in the production of milk, butter fat and protein levels across four decades. This was generally at the extent of attaining a level of increase per decade which was similar to the increase seen between animals during their first and second lactations in the previous decade. However these increases were achieved without significantly affecting the percentage of butter fat or protein throughout the time examined, and also without changing the heifer : second lactation ratios.

Citation

KNIGHT, R.B. and MCEWAN, N.R. 2018. Analysis of the composition of milk in the first three lactations in Ayrshire cattle across four decades. Open agriculture [online], 3(1), pages 245-249. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2018-0026

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 29, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Aug 25, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 26, 2019
• Journal: Open agriculture
• Electronic ISSN: 2391-9531
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 245-249
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/opag-2018-0026
• Keywords: Ayrshire cattle; Milk yields; Butter composition; Protein composition; Temporal variation
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2985