Milk coagulation, especially in small ruminant species, is often hard to evaluate, as coagulation traits are normally considered individually and several factors related to udder health might distort yield calculation. Due to the lack of studies about these factors, our objective was to determine milk coagulation efficiency (CE) and its determinants using a deterministic technical efficiency approach, an ordinary least square regression model, and ANOVA. Milk from 300 Manchega ewes was collected and analyzed for composition, milk coagulation properties, and hygienic quality. The study results indicate that the estimated CE in Manchega ewes was 0.69, implying an important proportion of the animals produce poorly coagulating milk. The results of the ordinary least square regression model and ANOVA revealed that the main factor causing inefficiency was the initial pH of milk. Crude protein, casein and plasmin activity had moderate effects on CE, and, finally, other factors such as freezing point depression, somatic cell count, colony-forming units, and fat concentration had minor effects.
Keywords: Manchega; coagulation efficiency; hygienic quality; sheep milk.
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