Replacing Chopped Alfalfa Hay with Alfalfa Silage in Barley Grain and Alfalfa-Based Total Mixed Rations for Lactating Dairy Cows

Replacing alfalfa or red clover silage with birdsfoot trefoil silage in total mixed rations increases production of lactating dairy cows.

The objective of this study was to compare milk production and nutrient utilization in dairy cattle fed silage made from alfalfa (AL) or red clover (RC) versus birdsfoot trefoil (BFT) selected for low, normal, and high levels of condensed tannins. Condensed tannin contents of the 3 BFT silages were 8, 12, and 16 g/kg of DM by butanol-HCl assay. Twenty-five multiparous Holstein cows (5 fitted wi...

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

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...

Synthesis of microbial protein in ruminally cannulated cows fed alfalfa silage, alfalfa hay, or corn silage.

Six ruminally cannulated cows were used in an experiment with a 3 x 3 Latin square design. Three all forage diets-alfalfa silage, alfalfa hay, or corn silage plus 2.2% urea (DM basis)-were fed for ad libitum intake four times daily. The microbial protein marker 15NH3 and the liquid marker Cr-EDTA were infused continuously into the rumen for 72 and 48 h, respectively; the solid marker, Yb-labele...

effect of replacing alfalfa hay with alfalfa silage in high performance dairy cattle diets

four-handed fifty lactating holstein cows with mean body weight of, 597± 40 and 50±20 and days in milk body condi from sure of 3.1±0.4 were blocked by parity and randomly assigned to 3 treatments. each treatment had 3 pens and each pen had 50 cows. the experiment lasted for 60 days (10 days adaptation and 50 days collection period). concentrate to forage ratio was 60 to 40 and alfalfa hay repla...