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A comparison of buffer and partial storage feeding of a straw/concentrate mixture to grazing dairy cows
Author(s) -
ROBERTS D. J.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1989.tb01938.x
Subject(s) - straw , milking , zoology , dry matter , morning , grazing , meal , chemistry , agronomy , biology , food science , botany
A straw/concentrate mixture was offered to set‐stocked dairy cows over a 24‐week period. The cows were offered grazed herbage only (G), or grazed herbage with a straw/concentrate supplement offered either for 45 min after each milking (B), or overnight (P). The overnight treatment involved housing the cows between afternoon and morning milking. The straw/concentrate mixture contained 0·33 long barley straw, 0·28 barley, 0·12 soya bean meal, 0·25 molaferm and 0·02 minerals. During the first 8 weeks of the experiment an average of 2·25 kg of concentrate were fed, and from weeks 9–24, 2·0 kg of concentrate were fed. The feeding of the straw/concentrate mixture led to a decrease in estimated herbage dry matter (DM) intake, particularly for treatment P. Estimated total DM intakes were increased throughout the experiment by offering the straw/concentrate mixture. However, total metabolizable energy (ME) intakes were only increased in mid‐and late season. Milk yield was higher in early season for treatment G; 28·1 kg d −1 compared to 26·8 kg d −1 and 25·5 kg d −1 for treatments B and P respectively. In late season the cows in treatment G had lower milk yields; 13·3 kg d −1 compared to 15·5 kg d −1 and 16·8 kg d −1 for treatments B and P respectively. Milk fat content was increased in early season in treatment P, and milk protein content tended to be reduced throughout the experiment for cows offered the straw/concentrate mixture overnight. Over the whole experiment there were no differences in yield of milk solids.