Third-cutting alfalfa with 37% DM was ensiled untreated or treated with either 2.8 g of formic acid/100 g of DM or .31 g of formaldehyde/100 g of DM and fed to lactating dairy cows in two experiments. Silage treated with formic acid had the lowest pH and concentrations of NPN, NH3, and total free AA. Both treatments decreased rumen in vitro protein degradability but did not affect in vitro rume...

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of partial replacement of corn silage with long alfalfa hay and/or coarse chopped wheat straw on biochemical parameters in late lactating Holstein primiparous dairy cows. Twelve late lactating Holstein primiparous cows including four cows equipped with a rumen cannula, averaging 210 ± 20 days in milk and weighing 575 ± 50 kg were randoml...

Eight rumen-cannulated steers (initial wt 330kg) were adapted to a mixed alfalfa-grass hay diet for 30 d and abruptly changed to complete mixed diets of corn silage, snapped ear corn and a corn-based supplement to determine the effects of buffers on diet adaptation, digestion and ruminal metabolism. The diets contained: 1) no buffer, 2) .5% magnesium oxide (MgO), 3) 1.0% sodium bicarbonate (NaH...

Effectiveness of low level monensin supplementation on N utilization in lactating dairy cows fed alfalfa silage was assessed using 48 multiparous Holsteins. Cows were fed a covariate diet [% of dry matter (DM): 56% alfalfa silage, 39% ground high moisture corn, 3% soybean meal, 1% ground corn, 1% vitamin-mineral supplements] for 2 wk, then grouped by days in milk into blocks of 4. Cows were ran...

This study aimed to investigate the impact of storage time on bacterial community and fermentation profile silage prepared with alfalfa, whole-plant corn, their mixture. Fresh alfalfa corn were chopped combined in fresh weight ratios 1:0 (alfalfa, control), 0.8:0.2 (M1), 0.6:0.4 (M2), 0:1 (corn). Three silos each treatment analyzed after 30, 60, 90 d storage. With time, pH, acetic acid, propion...

Story in Brief The influence of roughage source on digestion of :1 high grain diet was measured with 24 Hereford-Angus steers. The six roughages tested were cottonseed hulls, prairie hay, alfalfa hay, sorghum plant silage and two varieties of corn plant silage. The diet consisted of 82 percent whole shelled corn, 10 percent roughage and 8 percent supplement. Daily feed intake was restricted to ...

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...

The objective of this study is to investigate individual animal variation of bovine fecal microbiota including as affected by diets. Fecal samples were collected from 426 cattle fed 1 of 3 diets typically fed to feedlot cattle: 1) 143 steers fed finishing diet (83% dryrolled corn, 13% corn silage, and 4% supplement), 2) 147 steers fed late growing diet (66% dry-rolled corn, 26% corn silage, and...

The objective of this study is to investigate individual animal variation of bovine fecal microbiota including as affected by diets. Fecal samples were collected from 426 cattle fed 1 of 3 diets typically fed to feedlot cattle: 1) 143 steers fed finishing diet (83% dry-rolled corn, 13% corn silage, and 4% supplement), 2) 147 steers fed late growing diet (66% dry-rolled corn, 26% corn silage, an...

The objective of this study was to determine whether production and nutrient utilization differed when lactating cows were fed diets based on 1 of 3 sources of alfalfa silage (AS) and whether performance was altered by feeding rumen-protected Met (RPM; fed as Mepron). Thirty-six lactating Holstein cows were blocked by parity and days in milk, then assigned to a randomized complete block design ...