Use of Canola in Dairy Cattle Diets: Year 3

This report presents results from the third and final trial of a three–year study by the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (AFES) investigating the use of Alaska–grown whole–seed canola in dairy cattle diets. In the Year 1 trial, diets containing 2, 4, and 6 pounds canola per cow per day were compared to a standard diet containing no canola. (Randall, Dofing, and Brainard, 1994). In the Year 2 trial, use of canola as a fat supplement was studied by comparing performance of cows fed dried fat, canola, and a tallow + dried fat mixture (Randall, Dofing, and Brainard, 1995). In both trials, addition of canola to diets to supplement either imported soybean meal (Year 1 trial) or dried fat (Year 2 trial) was economically viable. It was cautioned, however, that producers should consider existing feed and milk prices in formulating diets, as these will likely influence the net economic return of each diet. Results from the Year 1 trial indicated exceptionally high dry matter intake for many cows assigned rations containing higher amounts of canola. In this trial, a Calan® gate system allowed each cow access to its own feed container, at the exclusion of all other cows. However, feed containers were located close enough to each other that some cows were able to enter their gate and feed from the container at an adjacent gate. This “stealing” was observed on several occasions. We speculated that this could have created artificially high feed intake values and, therefore, influenced our results. In this trial we repeated the Year 1 trial, eliminating the possibility of feed stealing. This Research Progress Report presents those results. Use of brand names does not imply endorsement by the AFES.