Prediction of voluntary intake of grass silages by lactating cows offered concentrates at a flat rate

1991 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Rook ◽  
M. Gill ◽  
R. D. Willink ◽  
S. J. Lister
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Ammonia Nitrogen ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Flat Rate ◽  
Organic Matter Concentration ◽  
The Mean

ABSTRACTData for individually recorded silage dry-matter intake (SDMI), concentrate dry-matter intake (CDMI), live weight, milk yield and milk composition of lactating dairy cows offered silage ad libitum and concentrates on a flat-rate basis, together with data for silage composition from experiments conducted at four sites, were used to obtain simple and multiple regressions of SDMI on other variables.Simple regressions showed that the most important variables affecting SDMI were, in order of importance: silage ammonia nitrogen, fat yield, CDMI, silage digestible organic matter concentration (DOMD) and live weight. The best multiple regression for the mean SDMI over weeks 4 to 13 of lactation accounted for proportionately 0·649 of the variation. Examination of week by week data for weeks 3 to 20 of lactation showed that two models for early and mid lactation were required to give a reasonable pattern of residual variances. These models accounted for 0·627 and 0·581 of the variation respectively. It was necessary to fit time effects explicitly in early lactation. Live weight was best represented by fitting post-calving live weight and deviations from post-calving live weight separately. A number of models requiring fewer input variables were also obtained to allow for use in situations where the full range of measurements is not made.The new models were tested using independent data from three sites. They performed better than a number of previously published models but the best model still gave a prediction error of proportionately 0·17 about the mean actual silage intake in early lactation and 015 in late lactation.The results suggest that there is little to be gained from further refinement of the functional form of the models and that the construction of a number of models for specific food and management situations is preferable to the use of global models.

The effect of wilting of herbage on silage composition and its feeding value for milk production

1981 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Significant Depression ◽  
Feeding Value ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Block Experiment

ABSTRACTA randomized block experiment was used to assess the effects of wilting of herbage prior to ensiling. Three silages, each a composite of three harvests taken over the season, were prepared by ensiling herbage as unwilted, medium-wilted or high-wilted material with mean dry-matter contents in the resulting silages of 192, 254 and 455g/kg respectively. The silages were ensiled in bunker silos using the same harvesting machinery and with formic acid applied at the rate of 2 81/t of herbage. The silages were offered to 81 January- and February-calving cows from the 8th day post partum until going to pasture on 27 April, with a mean period on treatmen t of 92 days. In addition, all animals received a fixed concentrate allowance of 7·6 kg/day. Wilting increased silage dry-matter intake, the mean intakes being 9·2, 9·4 and 10·0kg/day for the unwilted, medium-wilted and high-wilted material respectively, but resulted in a significant depression in milk yield, with the yields obtained during the final 14 days on treatment being 23·6, 21 -8 and 21·5kg/day respectively. Milk composition, live weight, body condition, total ration digestibility and nitrogen-balance data are also presented.

Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle 3. A comparison of two flat-rate feeding systems at two amounts of concentrates

1985 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. R. Moisey ◽  
J. D. Leaver
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Weight Changes ◽  
Flat Rate ◽  
Grass Silage ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Feeding Systems

ABSTRACTIn a 20-week experiment beginning at week 3 post partum, autumn-calving dairy cows were offered either a flat rate of concentrates in which all the cows received the same daily amount throughout the experiment (G). or a flat rate based on their individual milk yield at 2 weeks post partum (I). Two amounts of concentrates were compared and grass silage was available ad libitum. The amounts of concentrate were 6 kg/day (6) and 12 kg/day (12). In the I treatments the ranges of individual inputs were 4 to 8 and 9 to 15 kg/day for the 6 and 12 kg/day treatments respectively. For treatments 6G, 61, 12G, and 121 respectively, mean milk yields were 25·5, 25·7, 28·9 and 27·6 kg/day; mean live-weight changes +0·05, +0·04, +0·19 and +0·27 kg/day; and mean silage dry-matter intakes 11·1, 11·2, 8·1 and 7·5 kg/day. The differences between systems of allocation were not significant, but differences between amounts of concentrate offered were significant. The system of allocation had no significant effect on milk composition. In the residual period (2 weeks indoors and 19 weeks grazing) there were no significant effects on performance. The mean 305-day milk yields for 6G, 61, 12G and 121 respectively were 6376, 6422, 6720 and 6597 kg.

Prediction of the voluntary intake of grass silages by beef cattle. 1. Linear regression analyses

1990 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Rook ◽  
M. Gill
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acids ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Ammonia Nitrogen ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Digestible Organic Matter ◽  
Voluntary Intake ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Linear Regressions

ABSTRACTData on individually recorded silage dry-matter intake (SDMI), concentrate dry-matter intake (CDMI) and live weight of steers and data on silage composition including toluene dry matter (TDM), pH, total nitrogen (N), ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), digestible organic matter in the dry matter (DOMD) and neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) obtained from experiments conducted at three sites were used to obtain simple and multiple linear regressions of SDMI on other variables.Live weight accounted for a high proportion of the variation in intake but this effect could generally be removed by scaling intake by live weight raised to the power of 0·75 (M0·75). CDMI was the most important factor affecting scaled intake in mixed diets. TDM, NH,-N and VFAs all had important effects on SDMI. The relationship of SDMI with TDM was curvilinear suggesting that there is little to be gained in intake terms from wilting to TDM above 250 g/kg. The effect of NH3-N appeared to be related more to its correlation with VFAs than with any other nitrogenous constituent while the VFAs appeared to have a direct effect on SDMI. The effects of N and pH on SDMI were generally small. DOMD and NDF had relatively little effect on SDMI. Significant differences in intercepts between sites were found for most relationships although common slopes were often found.

Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle 1. A comparison of three patterns of allocation for autumn-calving cows and heifers offered grass silage ad libitum

1984 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Taylor ◽  
J. D. Leaver
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cattle ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Metabolizable Energy ◽  
Fixed Rate ◽  
Flat Rate ◽  
Grass Silage ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Ad Libitum

ABSTRACTHigh quality grass silage (10·5 MJ metabolizable energy per kg dry matter (DM)) was offered ad libitum to three groups of autumn-calving dairy cattle, each group containing eight cows and eight heifers. In a 20-week period commencing at week 3 post partum each group received, on average, 1260 kg fresh weight of a concentrate containing 180 g crude protein per kg. Animals in treatment F each received a flat-rate of 9 kg concentrates per day throughout. In treatment D, a declining rate of 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 kg/day was given in successive 4-week periods. Animals in treatment Y were each offered a fixed rate of concentrates (range 7 to 12 kg/day) based on their milk yield at 2 weeks post partum with a mean intake of 9 kg/day for the group. For treatments F, D and Y respectively, the mean daily milk yields were, 26·2, 26·7 and 26·9 kg for cows, and 19·5, 19·1 and 18·8 kg for heifers; mean live-weight gains were, 0·28, 0·30 and 0·22 kg/day for cows, and 0·41, 0·54 and 0·38 kg/day for heifers; and intakes of silage were, 10·1, 10·6 and 10·7 kg DM per day for cows, and 7·8, 7·7 and 7·3 kg DM per day for heifers. The differences between treatments were not significant but there were significant differences between cows and heifers. No significant differences were found between treatments in milk composition although heifers produced milk with significantly higher milk protein concentration (P < 0·05) and significantly greater milk lactose concentration (P < 0·01) than did cows. During the residual period (4 weeks indoors and 16 weeks grazing) all animals were treated as a single group and there were no significant differences in performance. The 305-day milk yields were not significantly different between treatments and averaged 6587 kg for cows, and 5124 kg for heifers.

Complete diets for dairy cows: comparisons of feeding to appetite with rationing according to milk yield

1980 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 715-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. D. Greenhalgh ◽  
G. W. Reid
Keyword(s):  
Milk Yield ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Energy Requirement ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Metabolizable Energy ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Under Nutrition

SummaryTwo experiments were made, each with 35 autumn-calving cows fed on complete diets containing 40–70% hay and 60–30% concentrates. In both experiments, cows fed to appetite on a diet containing 11 MJ metabolizable energy/kg D.M. for weeks 7–24 of lactation ate about 20% more than cows rationed according to yield, but produced only about 3% more milk. The cows fed to appetite gained more in live weight, but lost their weight advantage during the subsequent grazing season.In Expt 1, a further group of cows were fed to appetite on diets progressively reduced in metabolizable energy content from 11·0 to 9·2 MJ/kg. Dry-matter intake decreased by about 1·2 kg/day per 1 MJ reduction in energy content. The lower dry-matter and energy intakes of cows on this treatment did not significantly reduce their milk yield, but their response when turned out to grass suggested under-nutrition in late winter. In Expt 2, increasing the energy content of the diet in early lactation (weeks 7–12) and reducing it thereafter had no significant effect on milk yield.Within each treatment group there were reasonably close relationships between energy intake and energy requirement. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the efficiency of feed utilization of cows fed on complete diets will be low unless intake is controlled by energy dilution.

Dry-matter intake of Hereford and first-cross cows measured by controlled release of chromic oxide on three pasture systems

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Barlow ◽  
K. J. Ellis ◽  
P. J. Williamson ◽  
P. Costigan ◽  
P. D. Stephenson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Controlled Release ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Chromic Oxide ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Production Cycle ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Lactating Cows ◽  
Lactating Females

SummaryFaecal output of 287 beef cows consisting of Hereford (H × H), Simmental × Hereford (S × H), Friesian × Hereford (F × H) and Brahman × Hereford (B × H) breeding was estimated using controlled release of chromic oxide (Cr2O3). All cows were from 6 to 10 years of age and had grazed on one of three pasture systems in the subtropics of New South Wales since they were 7–8 months of age. These pastures were designated as being of high, medium and low nutritive value. Faecal organic matter output (FOMO) was estimated in each of four periods (early lactation, mid lactation, late lactation, and non-lactating) during one annual production cycle.Herbage mass exceeded 2 t/ha on all pasture systems, but estimates of organic-matter digestibility, nitrogen content and pasture composition indicated large differences in pasture quality (high > medium > low). Live weight of cows averaged 604, 488 and 393 kg live weight on the high, medium and low pastures, respectively. There were significant differences in live weight between genotypes on the medium (B × H > F × H and H × H) and low (S × H ≡ F × H ≡ B × H > H × H) pastures but not on the high pasture).FOMO and dry-matter intake (DMI) differed significantly between genotypes among lactating cows on all pasture systems. Rankings on high pastures were reasonably consistent in all periods: S × H ≡ F × H ≥ B × H ≥ H × H, as were those on low pastures, B × H ≥ S × H ≡ F × H ≥ H × H. Differences on medium pastures were significant only during mid-lactation when B × H ≡ S × H ≡ F × H > H × H. Significant differences between genotypes were observed among non-lactating cows on high pastures only, where H × H ≡ S × H ≡ F × H > B × H. Lactating females had significantly higher FOMO and DMI than non-lactating females when compared across genotypes during early lactation on all pastures.

The effect of feeding dairy cattle during the transition phase on dry matter intake, blood metabolites, milk yield and milk composition

2000 ◽  
Vol 2000 ◽  
pp. 101-101
Author(s):  
J K Margerison ◽  
B. Winkler ◽  
K. Mowll ◽  
R. Derrick ◽  
E. Mcintosh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Milk Yield ◽  
Dairy Cow ◽  
Feed Intake ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Transition Phase ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Liquid Feed ◽  
Effect Of Feeding

Feeding the dairy cow during the transition phase (dry to lactating) has been found to effect subsequent feed intake and milk yield (Moorby et al., 1996; Olsson et al., 1998). The aim of this study was to compare the effect of feeding a liquid feed during the prepartum period on; feed intake, milk yield, milk composition, live weight loss and blood metabolite levels.

Rumen in vitro techniques for the investigation of rumen probiosis. Jerry Hughes Memorial Scholarship for 1991

1992 ◽  
Vol 1992 ◽  
pp. 70-70
Author(s):  
J.A. Huntington
Keyword(s):  
Dry Matter ◽  
Protein Production ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Yeast Culture ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Feed Conversion ◽  
In Vitro Techniques ◽  
In Sacco

Recent research has shown that supplemention of beef cattle diets with small quantities (10-20 g/d) of yeast culture can lead to increased liveweight gain and improved feed conversion efficiency (Hughes 1988, Edwards 1991). Supplementation of dairy cow diets has led to reduced weight loss in early lactation, increased milk yield and an improved milk composition (Williams et al 1989). Improved animal performance has usually been associated with increased dry matter intake. The precise mode of action of yeast culture in ruminants is, as yet, unknown. There is evidence that yeast culture increases cellulolytic (Harrison et al 1988) and total rumen bacterial numbers (Edwards 1991). This may lead to increased rates of fibre digestion and increased microbial protein production. A number of in sacco studies have shown increased degradation of substrates at rumen incubation times of 24 hours or less (Williams 1989, Chademana and Offer 1990).

Milk production from silage 2. The influence of the digestibility of silage made from the primary growth of perennial ryegrass

1981 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Thomas ◽  
S. R. Daley ◽  
K. Aston ◽  
P. M. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Perennial Ryegrass ◽  
Crude Protein ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Ammonia Nitrogen ◽  
Dry Matter Intake ◽  
Primary Growth ◽  
Digestible Organic Matter ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Friesian Cows

ABSTRACT1. The primary growth of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne cultivar Endura) was cut on 23 May (high digestibility) and 23 June (low digestibility) and ensiled with an additive consisting of equal volumes of formic acid and formalin to supply 30 g formaldehyde per kg crude protein. The silages were given ad libitum, together with 6·3 kg dry matter per day of a barley/soya bean supplement, to 24 British Friesian cows over weeks 4 to 18 of lactation.2. The delay in cutting the primary growth led to an increase in grass yield from 3·78 to 6·94t dry matter per ha but a depression in the content of digestible organic matter in the silage dry matter from 748 to 639 g/kg. However, the effect of the digestibility of the silage on the digestibility of the total diet by the cows was small. The silages contained low levels of fermentation acids and ammonia-nitrogen.3. The digestibility of silage did not influence silage dry-matter intake in early lactation but in mid lactation the intake of the low-digestibility silage declined whilst that of the high-digestibility silage increased slightly.4. Cows given silage of high rather than low digestibility produced significantly more milk (high, 28·0 v. low, 24·7kg/day, P < 0·01 ) of lower fat content (high, 36·1 v. low, 41·0 g/kg, P < 0·01 ) but higher protein content (high, 31·5 v. low, 29·4g/kg, P < 0·05). Cows given silage of low digestibility lost more live weight than cows given silage of high digestibility but the effect was not significant.

Systems of concentrate allocation for dairy cattle. 4. A comparison of two amounts and two patterns of allocation

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Taylor ◽  
J. D. Leaver
Keyword(s):  
Milk Yield ◽  
Milk Fat ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Live Weight ◽  
Weight Changes ◽  
Flat Rate ◽  
Grass Silage ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Fat Yield

ABSTRACTFor 25 weeks starting at week 3 post partum autumn-calving dairy cows were offered either a flat rate of concentrates in which all cows received the same daily amount throughout the experiment (F), or a variable rate based on their individual milk yield at 2 weeks post partum, and which was reduced at weeks 10, 15 and 20 of the experiment (V). Two mean amounts of concentrates were compared, 11 kg/day (11) and 7 kg/day (7) and grass silage was available ad libitum. For treatments 11F, 11V, 7F and 7V respectively, mean milk yields were 26·2, 24·5, 21·5 and 21·3 kg/day, mean live-weight changes were +0·18, +0·07, -0·09 and -0·05 kg/day, and mean silage dry-matter intakes were 8·0, 7·1, 9·4 and 9·0 kg/day. Differences between systems of allocation were not significant, but differences between amounts of concentrates offered were significant. Due to the greater milk yield and milk fat concentration of the F system of allocation, milk fat yield was significantly greater than for the V system. The substitution rate of concentrates for silage dry matter was significantly greater during the first 10 weeks of the experiment than during the succeeding 15 weeks. In the residual period (3 weeks indoors and 14 weeks grazing), there were no significant effects on performance. The mean 305-day milk yields for 11F, 11V, 7F and 7V respectively were 6957, 6388, 5862 and 5901 kg.

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