MORPHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF UDDERS IN JERSEY COWS

Abstract

The authors held an udder morphology inquiry in a domestic first lactation Jersey pedigree cow flock (n=268). Author’s aim was after collecting the udder’s morphological characters together to find relation between the udder’s different parameters, such as udder depth, distances of the two forwards, two backwards, forward-backwards teats, length and diameter of the teats, as well as the milk’s somatic cell number. The udder area bordered by teats (cm2 ) and the teats’ volume (cm3 ) were calculated with using the formulas created by the authors. The exanimate cow flock showed in cases of udder depth 37.2-39.0 cm, of the distance of the two forward teats 15.24-16.70 cm, in case of the backward teats the same distance was 8.16-10.43 cm, of the forward and the backward teats 12.60-14.17 cm, of the length of teat 5.03-5.43 cm and of the teat’s diameter 18.12-18.8 cm rates. The average somatic cell number was 238 thousand/ml. Statistically proved (P<0.05) negative coherence was observed on the flock level as well as in case of troops of bull descendants between the somatic cell number and the udder depth (r =-0.12), - the distance of the two forward teats (r =-0.22), - the distance of the two backward teats (r =-0.26), the distance of the forward and the backward teats (r =-0.25) and between the diameter of udder teats (r =-0.21).The results of the inquiries call attention to the fact, that the somatic cell number’s fluctuation can be determinate beside by many other influential facts (eg. feeding, milking and farming technology, management) also by the udder morphology.

Keywords

• jersey
• udder morphology
• teat’s distance
• teat’s length
• teat’s diameter
• somatic cell number