Open AccessEffect of type of forage offered and breed on performance of crossbred suckler heifers and their calves
Author(s) -
Merja Manninen,
Ilmo Aaronen,
Marja-Leena Puntila,
Reijo Heikkilä,
Seija Jaakkola
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
agricultural and food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.347
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1795-1895
pISSN - 1459-6067
DOI - 10.23986/afsci.72868
Subject(s) - breed , hay , silage , ice calving , zoology , crossbreed , dry matter , grazing , biology , straw , forage , agronomy , lactation , pregnancy , genetics
Thirty Hereford-Ayrshire (HfAy) and 29 Limousine-Ayrshire (LiAy) spring-calving heifers in calf to a Aberdeen Angus (Ab) bull were used to study the effects of cow breed and winter diet on performance. The diets were either primarily based on hay (H, 2/3 of dry matter (DM) intake, silage 1/3) or silage (S, 2/3 of DM intake, hay 1/3). In addition, animals were offered 1.0 kg milled barley per head daily for two months prior to calving and 1.5 kg/day from calving until grazing commenced. Animals also had free access to barley straw. During the indoor feeding period from 15 December to 1 June HfAy-heifers consumed slightly but not significantly more feed DM, metabolizable energy and AAT (amino acids absorbed from the small intestine) than LiAy-heifers on both diets. At the start of the experiment LiAy- and HfAy-heifers were 572 and 596 (P