Influence of systematic environmental effects on milk performance traits in German Improved Fawn

The objectives of this study were to analyse the influence of fixed effects on milk traits of German Improved Fawn. The analysis was based on 27,778 test day records of 1,848 German Improved Fawn with 3,574 lactation records. The milk records were sampled between 1988 and 2002 from 229 flocks in Lower Saxony, Saxony and Baden-Wuerttemberg. The average daily milk yield was 2.87 +/- 1.20 kg with a fat content of 3.08 +/- 0.54% and a protein content of 3.38 +/- 0.95%. Somatic cell count (SCC) was transformed into somatic cell score (SCS), Mean SCS was 5.49 +/- 1.93. The average lactation length was 234.1 +/- 76.4 days. The analysis of variance showed a significant influence of lactation number, stage of lactation, year of lambing and month of lambing on all analysed milk production traits. Milk yield was highest in the fourth lactation number and fat as well as protein content in the 7th to 13th lactation number. Litter size had a significant influence on milk and fat yield and on fat and protein content. The region significantly influenced protein yield and fat and protein content of German Improved Fawn but had no effect on milk and protein yield and SCS. Animals from Baden-Wuerttemberg reached the highest milk protein content but the lowest milk fat content.