Input-Output of Dairy Cows Fed a Complete Ration of a Constant or Variable Forage-to-Grain Ratio

Effect of yeast culture supplementation of alfalfa silage or alfalfa hay fed to lactating dairy cows

Performance of lactating dairy cows fed alfalfa or red clover silage as the sole forage.

Three Latin square trials, with 20 (two trials) or 24 (one trial) multiparous lactating Holstein cows (four in each trial with ruminal cannulae), compared the feeding value of red clover and alfalfa silages harvested over 3 yr. Overall, the forages contained similar amounts of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber; however, red clover silage contained more hemicellulose, less ash and...

Performance of lactating dairy cows fed either alfalfa silage or alfalfa hay as the sole forage.

Alfalfa was harvested from alternate windrows as 40% DM silage or hay in small rectangular bales and fed in two 12-wk 4 x 4 Latin square trials, each with 20 multiparous lactating cows (4 with ruminal cannulas). Diets contained (DM basis) 69 (trial 1) or 66% (trial 2) alfalfa, 26 to 33% high moisture corn, 1.3% minerals and vitamins, and about 1.6 Mcal of NEL/kg of DM. In trial 1, second-cuttin...

Intake of High Producing Holstein Cows Grazing Pasture or Fed a Total Mixed Ration

(week 4). Intake was estimated in week 4 by dosing twice daily with 5 g Cr 2 O 3 for 10 days. Fecal samples were collected twice daily on days 7 to 11 of Cr 2 O 3 dosing, with pre-grazing pasture being sampled on days 6-10 of dosing. Fecal output, calculated from fecal chromium concentrations, and in vitro digestibility (IVDMD) were used to calculate intake (Parker et al. 1989). The intake of c...

Performance of lactating dairy cows fed varying levels of total mixed ration and pasture.

Two, 8-week experiments, each using 30 lactating Holstein cows, were conducted to examine performance of animals offered combinations of total mixed ration (TMR) and high-quality pasture. Experiment 1 was initiated in mid October 2004 and Experiment 2 was initiated in late March 2005. Cows were assigned to either a 100% TMR diet (100:00, no access to pasture) or one of the following three formu...