Lactating dairy cow diets with more than 24% starch (DM basis) are common, but recent high corn prices have fueled a desire to feed lower-starch diets. The potential for using digestible neutral detergent fiber or pectin from byproduct feeds or sugars to partially replace starch from corn grain in diets fed to lactating dairy cows was reviewed. Potential modifying effects of corn silage, starch...

Twenty-four multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were used in a replicated 3×3 Latin square changeover design experiment to test the effects of changing from corn (Zea mays) silage to red clover (Trifolium pratense) silage in graded proportions on feed intakes, milk production, and whole-body N and P partitioning. Three dietary treatments with ad libitum access to 1 of 3 forage mixtures plu...

With more than 65% of agronomic crops under no-till in Pennsylvania, herbicides are relied on for weed management. To lessen the environmental impact and selection pressure herbicide resistance, we conducted a 9-yr experiment to test reduction practices dairy crop rotation at Rock Springs, PA. The included soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]–corn (Zea mays L.)–3-yr alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)–can...

www.extension.umn.edu/beef In spite of increasing corn prices, incentives for feedlot expansion exist in the Upper Midwest due to the increased supply of ethanol co-product feeds, relatively inexpensive corn and forage, availability of crop land for manure application, and clearly defined feedlot regulations in states like Minnesota. A recent estimate of distillers’ grains supply of 24 million ...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of supplemental tribasic copper chloride (Cu(2)(OH(3))Cl; TBCC) vs. Cu sulfate (CuSO(4)) on Cu status and voluntary forage DMI in growing heifers. Two 90-d experiments were conducted using 48 non-pregnant, crossbred heifers (24 heifers/experiment; 355 +/- 10.7 and 309 +/- 9.9 kg for Exp. 1 and 2, respectively). In each experiment, 3 supp...

Eighteen Angus steers (438 +/- 4 kg of BW) were supplemented with varying levels of corn oil (0 g/kg of BW, none; 0.75 g/kg of BW, MED; or 1.5 g/kg of BW, HI) on rotationally stocked, endophyte-free tall fescue to determine the effect of supplemental oil level on in vivo digestibility, intake, performance, and carcass traits. Pelleted cottonseed hulls were used as a carrier for the oil suppleme...

introduction multiple cropping such as intercropping plays an important role in agriculture because of maximizing beneficial interactions. intercropping of legumes and cereals is an old practice in tropical agriculture that dates back to ancient civilization. maize-legume intercrops could substantially increase forage quantity and quality and decrease requirement for protein supplements (ahmad ...

Sixteen Holstein cows in midlactation were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design to determine the effect of replacing alfalfa neutral detergent fiber (NDF), with NDF from a combination of whole linted cottonseed, dried distillers grains, and wheat middlings. The four diets were a basal control diet that was low in forage and fiber [(5.9 g of corn silage NDF and 6.1 g of alfalfa NDF/100 g of dry m...

We used four ruminally fistulated, multiparous, pregnant Holstein cows to delineate microbial adaptations in dairy cows as they experienced the transition from one lactation to the next. Diets consisted of typical far-off and close-up diets, a late lactation diet containing wet corn gluten feed (20% DM) and an alfalfa hay-corn silage based early lactation diet. Calculated NEL (Mcal/lb), measure...

Lignin is an essential structural component of all land plants. It fills spaces in the cell wall between cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. Lignin provides the strength to plants from giant Sequoia trees to alfalfa growing in hay fields. A good analogy is that lignin is like the steel reinforcing rods in concrete. Life on earth would not be possible without lignin to allow plants to grow upr...