Milk Yield and Milk Flow Traits in Murrah Buffaloes as Influenced by Method of Milking

A total of 200 Murrah buffaloes were utilized for the study with 100 buffaloes in each group of machine and hand milking. The milk yield and milk flow parameters were recorded in both machine milked and hand milked groups during the evening milking. The average milk yield in machine milked buffaloes (3.62 ± 0.08 kg) was higher when compared to hand milked buffaloes (3.51 ± 0.08 kg) but the difference was not significant. The fat percent in the hand milked buffaloes (6.57 ± 0.09) was significantly higher than that of machine milked buffaloes (6.01 ± 0.081) while the SNF % was more in the milk obtained through machine. The average total milking time in case of machine milking was significantly (P < 0.05) less than that of hand milking (5.32 vs 5.60 min) while the average letting down time was almost similar in both the groups. The stripping time was higher in hand milking (1.30 min) while the strip yield (0.24 ± 0.01 kg) and average flow rate (0.68 ± 0.01 kg/min) were higher in machine milking. The correlations of milk yield with all the milk flow traits viz., milk let down time, milking time, stripping time, total milking time, strip yield and the average flow rate were significantly positive.