Presentation by Mahfoudh .A. A. Al- Hard at the 5th All Africa conference on animal production, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 25-28 October 2010.

1. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
The Relationships among
Breed, Milking Traits, Body
and Udder Measurement in
Hot Climate area in Yemen
Mahfoudh .A. A. Al- Hard
Faculty of Agriculture and veterinary –
Thamar University-Yemen
E-mail:dralhered100@yahoo.com

2. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010
INTRODUCTION
Cattle play important role in the economy of world wide
countries. Great importance has been attached to the
conformation traits of cattle. Technical developments have
now made it possible to record most production
characteristics objectively and the future conformation traits
may be used primarily to aid the selection of characteristics
important to the health and longevity of cattle and the
amount of work required for their care (Ovesen, 1972).
Study of milk flow during milking can provide useful
information for enhancing the efficiency of milking process
avoiding some common mistakes, and protecting teat
integrity and udder health (Tamburini et al., 2007). Rate of
milk removal and time required to milk are of economic
importance in relation to the amount of labor required per
unit of milk yield (Markos and Touchberry,1970).
The differences in milk flow rates showed by the divergent
breeds may reflect difference breeding goals among the
breeds in the past, This includes traits aimed to maintaining
or improving udder health (Walsh et al., 2007). Bulot (2006)
reported some European dairy breed such as Montbeliarde
and Brown Swiss had lower milk yield than Holstein.

3. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Miller et al (1995) cited that cows with high milk yield have
high milk flow rate and more susceptibility to mastitis.
Increase milking speed or flow is associated with decrease
milking labor time and labor is a significance expense in the
harvest (Ral et al.,1990:Boettcher et al.,1998: Cecchinato et
al.,2007), further more the above workers reproduces very
slow milking cows can prolong the total time needed for
milking and also disturb the milking routine. Teat and
milkability traits are important managemental traits ,they
affect the daily work of the farmer . The teat shape and
placements can cause practical problems at milking (Ral et
al.,1990). Ratore (1977) reported that cows with funnel shape
teats produced 10.9-15.4% more milk than cows with
cylindrical teats. In Turkey, Tilki et al (2005) found that Brown
Swiss cows with bottle teats shape was lower in milk
production than cows with cylindrical or funnel teat shape.

4. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY
This study was carried out to determine
the relationships among breeds, milking
traits, body and udder measurements of
Holstein-Friesian and Jersey cows in hot
climate area in Yemen.

5. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
MATERIALS AND METHODES
Study area :
The research was conducted in Al-Mara'e station-Al-Kadan
60Km East of Hodaidah province, Yemen. The area of study
is located between 15ْ 16 North latitude and 43ْ12 East
longitude. The climate of this region is tropical sub humid,
The annual rainfall ranges from 60-150mm ,the mean
temperature reaches to highest 40ْC in July and august
whereas the lower in January.
Collection of data :
Data were obtained from Al-Mara'e farm, 43 Holstein-
Friesian and 27 Jersey cows were subjected to study and
evaluation.
Experiment:
Cows were divided into 3 group according shape of teat.
Measured of udders and teats were measured and recorded
milk yield, milk flow for each cow were recorded weekly from
1-30 august 2006. The average milk flow was calculated as
milk yield / milking time according to formula given by
(Querengasser et al,2002).

6. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Statistical analysis :
The data were obtained from this study
were analyzed by general linear model
(G.L.M) following the:
Yijklm=µ+Ai+Bj+Ck+Dl+eijklm.
The statistical significance for (the daily
milk yield, milking time and milk rate flow
according to teat shape were assessed by on
way ANOVA. Comparison between group
means were assessed by L.S.D. Phenotypic
correlation between breeds, body and udder
measurement with milking traits were
determined by SPSS ver12.

7. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Teats Shape

8. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
RESULT AND
DISCUSSION

9. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Table 1. Means and standard errors of milk traits, udder and body measurements
MaxMinMean SeTraits
8.53.55.34 ± 0.11Fore Teat Length
8.03.04.38 ± 0.10Rear Teat Length
10.56.07.42 ± 0.12Fore Teat Circumference
9.55.06.95 ± 0.10Rear Teat Circumference
1486389.80 ± 1.90Udder Circumference
785062.42 ± 0.74Udder Height
210162181.61 ± 1.42Heart Girth
146118131.30 ± 0.87Withers Height
183138157.62 ± 1.28Body Length
18.4048.63 ± 0.42Milk Daily
924.47 ± 0.18Milking Time
5.690.832.12 ± 0.12Milk Flow

10. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Table (2). Effect of breeds on all milk traits, body and udder measurement
ersey
Holstein Friesian
Traits
4.98 ± 0.12 b5.56 ± 0.15 aFore Teat Length
3.91 ± 0.09 b4.68 ± 0.15 aRear Teat Length
6.90 ± 0.16 b7.74 ± 0.15 aFore Teat Circumference
6.53 ± 0.12 b7.20 ± 0.14 aFore Teat Circumference
84.37 ± 1.82 b93.22 ± 2.77 aUdder Circumference
58.42 ± 0.70 b64.93 ± 0.95 aUdder Height
172.85 ± 1.47 b187.11 ± 1.65 aHeart Girth
124.04 ± 0.60 b135.86 ± 0.77 aWithers Height
7.25 ± 0.44 b9.50 ± 0.58 aMilk Daily
3.53 ± 0.15 b5.06 ± 0.24 aMilking Time
2.10 ± 0.11 a2.13 ± 0.19 aMilk Flow

11. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Table(3). Effect of teat shape on milk traits Means ±Standard errors)
FunnelCylindricalFlatTraits
5.18 ±0.24a5.69 ±0.21 a5.30 ±0.15 aFore Teat
Length
4.37 ±0.15 a4.50± 0.28 a4.35 ±0.16 aRear Teat
Length
7.77 ± 0.60
b
9.11± 1.15 a8.90± 0.42 aMilk Daily
4.17 ± 0.32
b
5.17± 0.40 a4.38± 0.25 bMilking
Time
2.06 ± 0.24 a1.84± 0.25 b2.24± 0.17 aMilk Flow
Means with different letters within a column
significantly different (P< 0.05).

12. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
Table(4) Phenotypic correlation of milking traits with breed , udder and body measurement
Milking TimeMilk Flow
Daily Milk
Yield
Traits
-0.49**-0.01-0.32**Breed
-0.02-0.09-0.13Teat Shape
0.27*-0.070.09Fore teat length
0.25*-0.040.01Rear teat length
0.47**-0.28**-0.04Udder Height
0.21*0.070.14Heart Girth
0.25*-0.10-0.06Body Length
0.47**-0.090.14Wither Height
-0.55**0.04Milking Time
0.75**Milk Flow

13. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
CONCLUTION
It could be concluded :
- The breed of cow significantly influence on
milk yield and milking characteristics.
- The length and shape of teat effect on flow
rate and daily milk yield.
- Cylindrical teat shape was higher than flat
and funnel teat shape regarding daily milk
yield but flat teat had the highest rate of milk
flow.

14. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
SUGGESTION
It could be suggested :
- Further research works is need to be
conducted on local cow breeds to study milk
traits.
- Selection of cow breed based on adaptation
can improve milk production.
- The farmers should be trained to improve
management farming. Attention should be
paid to nutrition of animals.

15. The 5th
All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture
Commercialization of Livestock Agriculture in Africa:
Challenges and opportunities
October 25-28, 2010.
THANK YOU VERY
MUCH FOR
ATTENTION