Influence of Some Factors on Daily Milk Production in Awassi Breed of Sheep in Macedonia

Abstract

Several production traits of the daily milk yield (morning, noon, evening and total milk, % and amount of fats) for total of 170 heads of Awassi sheep, were analyzed during four production years (2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005). In total 1130 lactation test days were included in the study. The ewes were at the age from first to eleventh lactation. All the data were analyzed by multi-factor fixed model. The certain factor influence was studied with the F-test. The analyses were made with the set of programs SPSS (SPSS, 1994). Almost all factors (year, lactation, lambing month, month of milk control, milk control number), except fertility, had highly significant influence (P<0.001) on daily milk production (morning, noon, evening and total milk, % and amount of fats) in tested sheep population. The highhighest daily milk production was determined in sheep at their 8 th lactation and the lowest at those at 11 th lactation. Analogically to this data, the sheep of the same age produced the highest and lowest fat amount, respectively. The influence of lactation, confirmed that Awassi breed maintaines the level of high and standard milk production in older age. A typical lactation curve was determined in tested dairy sheep which starts with the highest daily lactation yield during the first milk control, and diminishes during lactation to the lowest of the last one.