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Studies on milk yield and calf suckling behaviour in Kenyan camels (Camelus dromedarius)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

S.P. Simpkin
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England NE1 7RU
P. Rowlinson
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England NE1 7RU
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Extract

Estimates of camel lactation yields in the literature vary from less than 1000kg to more than 12000 kg, with mean daily yields from 0.1 to 35kg (Simpkin 1985). Suckling or milking frequency and strength of the milk letdown reflex are just two of many factors that affect milk secretion rate in camels. Most of the 18 million camels in the world are kept in nomadic pastoral herds where estimation of milk yield is particularly difficult and the large variation in reported camel milk yields could be attributed to the methodology used to estimate yields. A literature survey shows most articles are based on infrequent observations on small numbers of animals over a short period of lactation and fail to state the experimental conditions or whether figures represent milk offtake for human consumption or total milk yield.

Type
Horses, Camels & Dogs
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1996

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References

Al Shaikh, M.A. and Salah, M.S. (1994) Effect of milking interval on secretion rate and composition of camel milk in late lactation. Journal of Dairy Research (1994) 61 451456.10.1017/S0022029900028375CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpkin, S.P. (1985) The effects of disease as constraints to camel productivity in northern Kenya. M.Phil. Thesis. University of London.Google Scholar