The effects of offering a range of forage and concentrate supplements on milk production and dry matter intake of grazing dairy cows

Abstract

An experiment was undertaken to examine the effect of supplement type on herbage intake, total dry matter (DM) intake, animal performance and nitrogen utilization with grazing dairy cows. Twenty-four spring-calving dairy cows were allocated to one of six treatments in a partially balanced changeover design with five periods of four weeks. The six treatments were no supplement (NONE), or supplementation with either grass silage (GS), whole-crop wheat silage (WS), maize silage (MS), rapidly degradable concentrate (RC) or slowly degradable concentrate (SC). Cows were rotationally grazed with a mean herbage allowance of 20AE5 kg DM per cow per day, measured above 4 cm. Forage supplements were offered for approximately 2 h immediately after each morning milking, with cows on NONE, RC and SC treatments returning to the grazing paddock immediately after milking. Cows on treatment MS had a significantly higher supplement DM intake than the other treatments but a significantly lower grass DM intake than the other treatments, resulting in no significant difference in total DM intake when compared with cows on treatments WS, RC and SC. Concentrate type had no significant effect on herbage intake, milk yield, milk composition or yield of milk components. The yield of milk fat and milk protein was significantly higher on treatments MS, RC and SC compared with treatments NONE, GS and WS. The results indicate that despite a relatively high substitution rate, maize silage can be a useful supplement for the grazing dairy cow.

Silage from maize (Zea mays), annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) or their mixture in the dry season feeding of grazing dairy cows in small-scale dairy production systems in the Highlands of Mexico

“…MY were also comparable to those reported by Morrison and Patterson (2007) who reported slightly higher yields for cows receiving supplementary maize silage compared with cows on a grass silage treatment, similar to the results observed in the work herein reported where cows on the MS treatment had MY 0.06 higher than for the MIX treatment, in which the inclusion of herbage from the third cut after 73 days regrowth of the annual ryegrass resulted in lower digestibility and intakes; with no difference between the MS and ARG treatments. MY was lower than yields reported by Hernández-Mendo and Leaver (2004,2006).…”

“…The use of ensiled forages as complements to grazing dairy cows has been examined in dairy systems based on grazed pastures, as means to overcome herbage shortages or to increase DM intakes and production efficiency (Holden et al 1995;Mosquera-Losada and González-Rodríguez 1998;Woodward et al 2006;Morrison and Patterson 2007); although these studies were undertaken on rotational grazing systems. Only the work by Leaver (2004, 2006) in England has compared the effect of different times for grazing and access to maize silage on continuously grazed dairy cows.…”

Restricting dairy cow access time to pasture in early lactation: the effects on milk production, grazing behaviour and dry matter intake

“…This resulted in a substitution rate of 0.58 kg of grass for each 1 kg of grass silage DM consumed, which is similar to that achieved by Morrison and Patterson (2007;0.56 kg of grass/kg DM grass silage) but is almost double the substitution rate of 0.31 kg DM herbage/kg DM silage observed by Phillips (1988). The difference is probably because of the high level of restriction that the animals in the studies reviewed by Phillips were under, indicating that the animals in this study were not restricted, which may be a critical factor if the cows are to adapt their grazing behaviour and attain similar intakes to cows grazing full time.…”

Attributional and consequential LCA of milk production

“…Within CLCA, energy and protein requirements are used to calculate the necessary amounts of spring barley and soybean meal to meet these needs (see Section 3.2). Although energy and protein requirements are the most important aspects to consider, a feed ratio based on a diet composed of only two ingredients, besides grass and maize silage intake produced on farm, might imply a loss of production, due to an unbalanced diet, especially when used over the long term, and is not recommended by feeding experts (Morrison and Patterson 2007). Using soybean meal as the only protein ingredient, however, is supported by the strong connection between the world's expanding livestock sector and the expanding soybean area in South America (Steinfeld et al 2006).…”