EFFECT OF PARITY AND AGE ON UDDER CHARACTERISTICS OF WHITE FULANI AND SOKOTO GUDALI COWS

Abstract

This study assessed of age and parity on growth parameters, udder and teat characteristics of White Fulani (WF) and Sokoto Gudali (SG) cows. The research was conducted at the Dairy cattle breeding section of the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Shika. The age and parity of each cow were obtained from the previous record. Also, the body weight was measured through the use of Birmingham – England Weighing bridge at each classes of the age. The age of the animal was
classified into three (3) groups (1 to 5, 6 to 10 and 11 to 15) and statistical analysis was carried out using the General Linear Model (GLM) of measurements. The results showed that all the measured traits were significant different (P < 0.05) except in udder length (ULT), udder circumference (UCF), udder cleft (UCL) and body condition score (BCS). Cows of age class 11 to 15 years had the highest value for all significant traits except for udder depth (UDT) and Distance of teat tip from the ground (DTG), while, the lowest values were recorded in cows of age one to five years except for a distance of teat tip from the ground (DTG) this is because of progressive udder hypertrophy to cow’s age and parity. Most of the traits measured were not influenced (P > 0.05) by parity of the cows except for udder depth (UDT), teat length (TLT) and teat diameter (TDR) which were significant (P < 0.05) because the variation could however be due to genetic characteristics of both breed.