Premium
Effects of conservation method and access time on silage intake and milk production in dairy cows
Author(s) -
MARTINSSON K.
Publication year - 1992
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.1365-2494.1992.tb02259.x
Subject(s) - silage , dry matter , hay , forage , lactation , milk production , zoology , wilting , milk fat , factorial experiment , biology , agronomy , food science , mathematics , pregnancy , statistics , genetics , linseed oil
The effects of the time of access to feed (8 h or 24 h) with silage‐based rations (unwilted or wilted silage) were studied for two years. In each year the experiment comprised 52 individually fed cows in a 2 × 2 factorial design and covered weeks 1‐20 of the lactation. The cows were offered silage ad libitum , 1 kg of hay per day, and concentrate according to the predicted energy‐corrected milk (ECM) yield. Increasing the access time from 8 h to 24 h increased the total intake of dry matter (DM) and metabolizable energy (ME) by 6%. This resulted in increased yield of ECM by 5%. The eating rate of forage was significantly increased by restricted time of access. Wilting had no significant effect on total feed intake or milk yield. The importance of providing a sufficient length of time during which the cows have access to feed was confirmed. It was concluded that 8 h d −1 of access to silage‐based rations is not enough in early lactation.