Variation of Milk Yield and Milk Composition of Pivska Pramenka Sheep Breed Through Lactation

The aim of this paper is to present the research results on the milk traits and variation of milk composition during lactation of Pivska pramenka breed, as one of the most important autochthonous sheep breeds in Montenegro. Investigation was conducted on the family sheep farm located in the municipality of Žabljak, a typical rearing area of Pivska pramenka breed. The following milk traits were studied: length of lactation, milk yield (daily milk yield – DMY and total milk yield - TMY) and milk composition (Fat, Protein, Lactose, Solid non-fat - SNF and Somatic cells count - SCC). Based on the data of 68 completed lactations, average length of lactation was 178.5 days and average milk yield 94.1 kg. On the basis of 289 milk samples analysed in 5 consecutive milk recordings, average daily milk yield was 0.549 litres, with 5.71% of fat, 5.75% of protein, 4.47% of lactose, 11.04 % of solid non-fat and 600x103 SCC on average. Differences in averages for milk composition among test days (days of milk recording) during lactation were significant (P0.01). The largest variation was for milk fat, from 2.95% in the first control to 9.42% in the fifth control, while variation of protein was between 4.5% in the first and 7.4 in the fifth control. The content of lactose exposed decreasing trend during lactation (from 4.7% in first to 3.1% in fifth control)