Producción y calidad de la leche de una lechería comercial en la provincia Matanzas, Cuba

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the milk production and physical-chemical quality in a dairy farm of Matanzas province, Cuba. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in a dairy farm, belonging to the Genetic Enterprise of Matanzas. The dairy farm has a total area of 72,4 ha. From them 57,8 are for grazing, distributed in 29 paddocks of 1,9 ha. Results: Significant differences were found (p < 0,001) among the milk production average (kg/animal/day) of the two-month period July-August (8,24) with regards to November-December (4,80) and January-February (6,03). There were also significant differences (p < 0,001) for the days of average lactation among the different production two-month periods. The productive efficiency behaved over 85 %, except in January-February and March-April, with 71,9 and 38,8 %, respectively. The milk quality differed between seasons (p < 0,05) for the average of fat and total solids (3,08; 4,81 and 12,21; 12,88) in the rainy and dry seasons, respectively. Conclusion: The best productive responses were reached in the rainy season, although the nutritional requirements were not covered throughout the year. In turn, the body condition values in the milking cows were low in both seasons.

Keywords

• dairy farms; milk production; natural pastureland