Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle 1. A comparison of three patterns of allocation for autumn-calving cows and heifers offered grass silage ad libitum

Abstract

1984). Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle 1. A comparison of three patterns of allocation for autumn-calving cows and heifers offered grass silage ad libitum. ABSTRACT High quality grass silage (10-5 MJ metabolizable energy per kg dry matter (DM)) was offered ad libitum to three groups of autumn-calving dairy cattle, each group containing eight cows and eight heifers. In a 20-week period commencing at week 3 post partum each group received, on average, 1260 kg fresh weight of a concentrate containing 180 g crude protein per kg. Animals in treatment F each received a flat-rate of 9 kg concentrates per day throughout. In treatment D, a declining rate of 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 kg/day was given in successive 4-week periods. Animals in treatment Y were each offered a fixed rate of concentrates (range 7 to 12 kg/day) based on their milk yield at 2 weeks post partum with a mean intake of 9 kg/day for the group. For treatments F, D and Y respectively, the mean daily milk yields were, 26-2, 26-7 and 26-9 kg for cows, and 19-5, 19-1 and 18-8 kg for heifers; mean live-weight gains were, 0-28, 0-30 and 0-22 kg/day for cows, and 0-41, 0-54 and 0-38 kg/day for heifers; and intakes of silage were, 10-1, 10-6 and 10-7 kg DM per day for cows, and 7-8, 7-7 and 7-3 kg DM per day for heifers. The differences between treatments were not significant but there were significant differences between cows and heifers. No significant differences were found between treatments in milk composition although heifers produced milk with significantly higher milk protein concentration (P < 0-05) and significantly greater milk lactose concentration (P < 0-01) than did cows. During the residual period (4 weeks indoors and 16 weeks grazing) all animals were treated as a single group and there were no significant differences in performance. The 305-day milk yields were not significantly different between treatments and averaged 6587 kg for cows, and 5124 kg for heifers.

Flat v. step feeding of medium or high levels of concentrates for dairy cows

“…This was in agreement with the results of Taylor and Leaver (1984b) using mediumquality silage and Steen and Gordon (1980), Gordon (1982) and Taylor and Leaver (1984a) who used high-quality silage. This was in agreement with the results of Taylor and Leaver (1984b) using mediumquality silage and Steen and Gordon (1980), Gordon (1982) and Taylor and Leaver (1984a) who used high-quality silage.…”

Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle 3. A comparison of two flat-rate feeding systems at two amounts of concentrates

“…The concentrate was a 9-mm pellet with constituents as outlined by Taylor and Leaver (1984a). The cuts were wilted before harvesting with a precision-chop forage harvester and had an additive applied (Add-F, BP Nutrition International Ltd, containing 850 g formic acid per 1) at a rate of 2-2 1/t fresh material.…”

The effect of concentrate feeding amount and feeding strategy on milk production, dry matter intake, and energy partitioning of autumn-calving Holstein-Friesian cows

“…This relationship is influenced by the genetic merit of the cow (Ferris et al, 1999) and the quality of the basal diet offered (Taylor and Leaver, 1984a). However, concentrate feeding strategy was found to have no significant effect on daily milk yield in early to mid lactation when grass silage was offered to appetite over a period of 19 to 24 wk in studies by Taylor and Leaver (1984b) and Moisey and Leaver (1985). Conversely, over a 5-wk study, cows in mid lactation had a modest increase in milk solids yield when concentrates were fed to yield using grazed lucerne and maize silage as the basal diet (García et al, 2007).…”