Milk quality of the Original Valachian in a submontane region

The aim of this study was to evaluate the milk efficiency of Original Valachian (OV) Sheep. The flock under scrutiny is kept at pasture at an altitude of 600 m in the Novohradske Mountains, and samples were taken from morning milking roughly in four to five weekly intervals during the period from April to August. The milking was begun on average on the 50th day of lactation, and was carried out mechanically. A total of 862 samples were analysed from an average of 54 ewes over the the years 2006–09. After an evaluation of the essential components of ewe’s milk from the flock of OV lambing ewes during lactation these average values were found: fat 4.90 g 100 g–1, crude protein 5.94 g 100 g–1, casein 4.40 g 100 g–1, serum protein 1.18 g 100 g–1, lactose 5.07 g 100 g–1, dry matter 16.45 g 100 g–1, solid not fat 11.63 g 100 g–1 and utilizable dry matter 10.85 g 100 g–1. OV had an average daily milk yield of 0.70 l. Fat, protein, casein, serum protein and dry matter showed rising trends during lactation. During the total period of measurement the average protein content of OVmilk did not drop below 5 g 100 g–1, in contrast to fat, which was under 3 g 100 g–1. The lactose content rose at the beginning of lactation, after it showed a degressive trend. The amounts of utilizable dry matter during our experiment showed a fluctuating trend.