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

Abstract

1985). Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle 3. A comparison of two at-rate feeding systems at two amounts of concentrates. ABSTRACTIn a 20-week experiment beginning at week 3 post partum, autumn-calving dairy cows were offered either a flat rate of concentrates in which all the cows received the same daily amount throughout the experiment (G). or a flat rate based on their individual milk yield at 2 weeks post partum (I). Two amounts of concentrates were compared and grass silage was available ad libitum. The amounts of concentrate were 6 kg/day (6) and 12 kg/day (12). In the I treatments the ranges of individual inputs were 4 to 8 and 9 to 15 kg/day for the 6 and 12 kg/day treatments respectively. For treatments 6G, 61, 12G, and 121 respectively, mean milk yields were 25-5, 25-7, 28-9 and 27-6 kg/day; mean live-weight changes +0-05, +0-04, +0-19 and +0-27 kg/day; and mean silage dry-matter intakes 11-1, 11-2, 8-1 and 7-5 kg/day. The differences between systems of allocation were not significant, but differences between amounts of concentrate offered were significant. The system of allocation had no significant effect on milk composition. In the residual period (2 weeks indoors and 19 weeks grazing) there were no significant effects on performance. The mean 305-day milk yields for 6G, 61, 12G and 121 respectively were 6376, 6422, 6720 and 6597 kg.

An examination of two concentrate allocation strategies which are based on the early lactation milk yield of autumn calving Holstein Friesian cows

“…For an additional 1.9 kg DM of total concentrate consumed by the HMP-FY cows, MP increased 2.6 kg relative to HMP-FR cows. This milk yield response (1.4 kg milk yield per additional 1.0 kg of concentrate) is larger than that found by Moisey and Leaver (1985) and Ferris et al (2002) (0.66 and 0.88 kg milk yield/kg DM of concentrate, respectively). In terms of energy use efficiency, the response equates to 0.63 UFL output of milk per 1.05 UFL of concentrate.…”

“…The large increase in the proportion of concentrate in previous experiments may have given the reduced mean response to concentrate compared with the present experiment. In Moisey and Leaver (1985) the proportion of concentrate was increased from 32% to 56% of TDMI and Ferris et al (2002) increased concentrate from 24% to 45% of TDMI. In the present experiment the proportion of concentrate increased from 32% of TDMI on HMP-FR to 37% on HMP-FY.…”

“…Studies which examined concentrate feeding strategy, previously calculated the milk yield response to concentrate as the difference in mean milk yield between two concentrate feeding rates, irrespective of cow genetic merit (Moisey and Leaver, 1985;Ferris et al, 2002). The response to concentrate found in the present study was a result of the increase in concentrate feeding rate specifically to HMP.…”

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).…”

“…A highly digestible base feed will reduce the overall milk production response to concentrate in a herd (Moisey and Leaver, 1985), as cows with low milk production potential can attain a larger proportion of the total required nutrient intake from forage. Previously, when feeding to yield was examined (Taylor and Leaver, 1984a), the milk production of the first 14 d of lactation was used as an indicator of milk production potential (Moisey and Leaver, 1985). Cows are prone to metabolic disease during this period (Drackley, 1999).…”