Silage and milk production: a comparison between barley and dried sugar‐beet pulp as silage supplements

Abstract

Two grass silages made from perennial ryegrass, and with D-values of 0-616 and 0-655, were offered ad libitum to 18 Ayrshire cows in two feeding experiments. On the control treatment the silages were supplemented with soybean meal only, and on the other two treatments with equal weights of DM from either barley or dried molassed sugar-beet pulp plus the same weight of soya as on the control treatment. The daily intakes of silage DM were not significantly different on the barley and beet-pulp treatments, and, on average, the intake of silage DM was reduced by 0-44 and 0-40 kg by feeding 1 kg barley and beet pulp DM respectively.The daily milk yields were not significantly different on the barley and beet-pulp treatments with mean values of 19-2 and 19-6 kg per cow respectively compared with 17-1 kg on the control treatment. On the barley and beet-pulp treatments the fat, SNF, CP and lactose concentrations in the milk and the live weights of the cows were not significantly different. It is concluded that the barley and beet pulp had similar feeding values and replacement rates when used as supplements with grass silage, and that the two feeds were interchangeable on an equal DM basis.

The effect of dietary inclusion of barley, unmolassed sugar beet pulp and molasses on milk production, digestibility and digesta passage in dairy cows given silage based diet

“…Rumen VFA was not measured in the present study, but Murphy et al (1986) found a decrease in this ratio from 5.2 to 4.5 in dairy cows when 670 g/kg of Ba was replaced by SBP. The results of Castle (1972) indicate a similar trend, and Castle noted as well a lower fat content on SBP diet than on Ba diet. In these studies, the major changes in rumen VFA proportions included an increase in propionate and a decrease in butyrate on SBP diets.…”

“…A similar increase in milk yield was also recorded by Thomas et al (1986) when Ba supplement was replaced by a mixture of SBP, extracted rice bran and fat prills. However, Mayne and Gordon (1984) Castle et al 1981) there were no statistically significant differences in milk production between Ba and SBP supplements, although in most studies the milk yield was slightly higher when SBP diets were given. In grazing cows the milk yield was higher when Ba was replaced by SBP (Murphy 1985), or more generally, starchy concentrate by fibrous concentrate (Meus 1986).…”

“…On the other hand, at a level of ca. 0.4 of the total DM intake, Castle et al (1981) noticed no differences in milk fat content between Ba and SBP supplements.…”

“…In the Finnish feed tables (SALOet al 1982), it is suggested that 1 kg of dry matter of sugar beet pulp is equivalent to 0.87-0.90 kg of dry matter of barley. However, replacing barley with SBP on equal dry matter basis in different forage diets has resulted in similar or slightly better productive value in milk production (Castle 1972, Castle et al 1981, Mayne and Gordon 1984, Murphy 1985, Thomas et al 1986, Istasse et al 1986.…”

Silage intake and milk production in cows given barley or barley fibre with or without dried distillers solubles

“…In the previous trial (Huhtanen et al 1988), increasing the proportion of barley fibre in the diet increased silage DM intake markedly but the effect was mainly offset by the reduced intake of supplement. Likewise, when small or moderate levels of concentrate have been used, the effect of concentrate energy source on silage DM intake has been relatively small (Castle et al 1981, Mayne and Gordon 1984, Sloan et al 1987, Huhtanen 1987. On the other hand, Thomas et al (1986) reported that cows given high levels of supplement based on unmolassed sugar beet pulp and rice bran ate 0.9 kg/day more silage DM than those given barley based supplements.…”