Page 247 - Agriculture_Form_Three

Agriculture for Secondary Schools

Exercise 10.4
Answer the following questions:
1. Define the following terms:
(a) Milking
(b) Hand milking
2. What is machine milking?
3. Outline five (5) materials/equipment to be prepared before starting milking.
4. What should be done on the preparation of a dairy animal before milking?
5. Explain the strategies to be considered in milk marketing.
6. List two strategies for ensuring that your milk is sold.
7. Write down the procedures for hand milking.
8. What could happen to the dairy animal if all the milk is not harvested from the
udder?

Factors affecting milk yield and quality
Milk yield is the total amount of milk produced by a dairy animal whereas milk
quality refers to the purity of milk in terms of chemical and physical composition,
that is, free from debris, off colours and odour as well as antibiotics. A dairy animal
has to produce quality and safe milk fit for human consumption. Where the dairy
animal and milking are poorly managed, the milk components which are water,
proteins, sugars, fats and minerals will be affected. Quality and yield of milk are
affected by several factors outlined in the following sub-sections.

Factors affecting milk yield
Milk yield tends to differ from one dairy animal to another for several reasons.
These include:
(a) Physiological status of the animal: Dairy animals that are on heat cut their milk
for a day and animals that are pregnant yield less than non-pregnant ones.
(b) The health of the animal: Dairy animals with poor health condition yield less
milk than those in good health.

(c) The age of the animal: Milk yield increases with age from the 1 to about 5
st
th
lactation. Cows in good condition will maintain high yield for about 2 - 3 years
after 5 lactation. After about 8 lactation, the milk yield may start to decline.
th
th
(d) Breeds of the animal: Some dairy animal breeds produce more milk than others.
For example, Friesian has higher yield than Jersey.
(e) Effects of climate: Normally, high ambient temperature reduces the milk yield.
(f) Feeding: If you need to get high yield make sure that animals eat sufficient feed
of good quality according to the daily feed requirement.

Student’s Book Form Three
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