Milking Temperament of Anatolian Buffaloes During Early Lactation

Abstract

Buffalos are increasingly used for milk production, but milking them is challenging due to their temperament and strong cow-calf relationship. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the milking behaviours and temperament score in Anatolian buffaloes and the effects of milking temperament score on the milking traits of cows. The study was performed on 43 lactating primiparous and multiparous Anatolian buffaloes at a commercial farm in Turkiye. At milking, each buffalo cow was scored using a temperament scoring system (1: docile, 2: restless, 3: nervous and 4: aggressive) that assessed the animal's reactivity on days 6, 30, 60 and 90 of lactation after calving. Additionally, the milking time (MT), milk flow rate (MFR) and milk yield per milking (MYM) of the cows were measured. The MT and MYM were measured using a digital chronometer and scales, respectively. The increase in the temperament score of the cows during milking was significantly positively correlated with the frequency of vocalising, kicking, stepping, defecating, urinating and pulling the teat cup off. In general, it was observed that Anatolian buffalo cows were restless during milking. The temperament score on day 6 of lactation was higher than during other periods. However, the milking temperament score of the buffaloes decreased rapidly during the later periods of lactation, i.e., the buffalo cows adapted to the milking procedures over time. The temperament score of cows with parity of <= 2 was higher than those with a parity of >= 4 on day 6 of lactation. Moreover, a statistically significant decrease in the MFR and MYM values of cows with an increasing temperament score was determined for all lactation periods. Except for on day 30 of lactation, the MT values of the cows also increased as the temperament score increased for the other lactation periods. An increase in the temperament score of the cows during milking was negatively correlated with the MYM and MFR values of the buffalo cows and was positively correlated with the MT on day 6 of lactation. Moreover, similar statistically significant correlations were observed between the temperament score and the milking characteristics (MYM, MT and MFR) on days 6, 30, 60 and 90 of lactation. These results suggest that the temperament score of the buffalo cows had an adverse effect on the MFR, MYM and MT values at various stages of lactation.