Short communication: Production response of lactating dairy cows to brachytic forage sorghum silage compared with corn silage from first or second harvest

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

Increasing harvest maturity of whole-plant corn silage reduces methane emission of lactating dairy cows.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of increasing maturity of whole-plant corn at harvest on CH4 emissions by dairy cows consuming corn silage (CS) based diets. Whole-plant corn was harvested at a very early [25% dry matter (DM); CS25], early (28% DM; CS28), medium (32% DM; CS32), and late (40% DM; CS40) stage of maturity. In a randomized block design, 28 lactating Holste...

Effect of varying dietary ratios of alfalfa silage to corn silage on production and nitrogen utilization in lactating dairy cows.

Twenty-eight (8 ruminally cannulated) lactating, multiparous Holstein cows were blocked by DIM and randomly assigned to 7 replicated 4 x 4 Latin squares (28-d periods) to investigate the effects of different dietary ratios of alfalfa silage (AS) to corn silage (CS) on production, N utilization, apparent digestibility, and ruminal metabolism. The 4 diets contained (dry matter basis): A) 51% AS, ...

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...