Udder and teat morphology measurements were taken at approximately 7.5 hr after the a.m. milking for 131 East Friesian (EF) crossbred ewes at an average of 71 d in lactation. Additionally, milking time was recorded for each ewe during two evening and morning milkings. Average daily milk production, milking time, percentage of milk fat, percentage of milk protein, and somatic cell count were 2 L...

In this article an on-farm monitoring approach on udder health is presented. Monitoring of udder health consists of regular collection and analysis of data and of the regular evaluation of management practices. The ultimate goal is to manage critical control points in udder health management, such as hygiene, body condition, teat ends and treatments, in such a way that results (udder health par...

Opinions are divided about the degree to which an udder should be empty after milking. While many farmers, based on their experience, try to empty the udder as completely as possible, their colleagues as well as some representatives of the milking industry and some milking consultants have a more relaxed attitude. They argue that it is completely normal that milk remains in the udder after milk...

This paper describes the particularities of the anatomy and morphology of the dairy sheep udder and the current implications on machine milkability. The sheep mammary gland is an exocrine epithelial gland mainly constituted of tubulo-alveolar parenchyma with alveoli and well differentiated cisterns. Two anatomical compartments are used for milk storage: alveolar and cisternal, the large-cistern...

Genetic evaluations of Holstein bulls for mean somatic cell score were compared with their standardized transmitting abilities for linear type traits. Based on first lactation daughter information from five dairy records processing centers, PTA for somatic cell scores for 712 sires ranged from -.50 to .56. Standardized transmitting abilities for 14 type traits were provided for these bulls by t...

Morphological traits of the whole udder (circumference, width, height, and length), teats (angle, length and width), udder cistern (teat opening and cistern height), and milk yield were measured over one lactation in a total of 18 ewes (nine Chilota and nine Suffolk Down sheep) belonging to the same experimental flock (Centro Experimental INIA Butalcura, Chiloé, Chile). Analysis of variance sho...

Morphological udder traits have recently become of greater interest from farmers to researchers. In dairy ewes, the udder is very important due to its physiological and conformational characteristics. External udder traits were measured in ewes (Ovis aries L.) of nine genotypes (355 ewes) created of the basis of Improved Valachian (IV), Tsigai (T), and Lacaune (LC) breeds (six traits; 1185 data...

The genetic relationship between conformation traits and functional herd life of the South African Jersey population was investigated. Data on conformation traits (n = 46 238) and functional herd life (n = 90 530) on registered South African Jersey cows calving between 1989 and 2008 were obtained from the Integrated Registration and Genetic Information System. Conformation traits were scored us...