Milk Yield of West African Dwarf Goats as affected by Milking Methods, Wattle and its Relationship with Udder Dimensions

Abstract This study evaluated the influence of milking methods and wattle on daily milk yield and its relationship between udder dimensions of West African dwarf does. Forty-eight does with age 3–4, parity 2–3 and liveweight 20–25 kg was put into three milking regimens, each consisting of sixteen duplicates, after spontaneously mating. Udder dimensions evaluated were teat length, distance between teats, udder circumference, and udder length. Milking was done three times a week and once a day at 8:00 a.m for 12 weeks while udder dimensions were taken before each milking program. SYSTAT (1992) was used to perform an analysis of variance on the collected data. High daily milk yield (p < 0.05) was recorded in goats milked through suckle-hand compared to weigh-suckle-weigh and hand-milking methods. Wattle had no discernible effect on the daily milk output or udder size (p > 0.05). Both udder dimensions and udder features showed positive relationships (p < 0.05) with daily milk yield. The study concluded that WAD does with or without wattle but with good udder traits should be considered for milk production and be milked with suckle-hand method owning to it significance in total milk extraction.