0619 Grazing management: milk production and composition of dairy cows grazing elephant grass

2016 ◽  
Vol 94 (suppl_5) ◽  
pp. 294-294
Author(s):  
C. D. A. Batalha ◽  
G. F. D. S. Congio ◽  
A. C. A. Krol ◽  
S. Crestani ◽  
M. B. Chiavegato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Elephant Grass

scholarly journals Sward and milk production response to early turnout of dairy cows to pasture in Finland

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. VIRKAJÄRVI ◽  
A. SAIRANEN ◽  
J.I. NOUSIAINEN
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Mass Production ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Grazing Season ◽  
Holstein Friesian ◽  
Production Response

The timing of turnout is an important factor affecting the grazing management of dairy cows. However,its consequences are not well known in the short grazing season of northern Europe. Thus, the effect of the turnout date of dairy cows to pasture on sward regrowth, herbage mass production and milk production was studied in two experiments,1)a grazing trial with 16 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows and 2)a plot trial where the treatments simulated the grazing trial.The treatments were early turnout (1 June)and normal turnout (6 June).Early turnout decreased the annual herbage mass (HM) production in the plot trial (P =0.005),but due to a higher average organic matter (OM)digestibility (P 0.05). Although early turnout had no effect on milk yields it meant easier management of pastures.;

scholarly journals Performance of lactating crossbred cows on pasture supplemented with conventional urea or slow release urea

2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 1487-1494
Author(s):  
D.C. Abreu ◽  
R.P. Lana ◽  
A.S. Oliveira ◽  
F.A. Barbosa ◽  
F.L. Andrade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Crude Protein ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Slow Release ◽  
Elephant Grass ◽  
Productive Performance ◽  
Slow Release Urea ◽  
Matter Basis

The effect of using conventional urea (CU) or slow release urea (SRU) was evaluated by replacing soybean meal (SBM) in concentrated supplements in levels of 2, 4 or 6% (dry matter basis) on productive performance of crossbred Holstein x Zebu lactating dairy cows (499±61kg body weight and 167 days of lactation) grazing on elephant grass (11.5% CP and 60% NDF) under rotational grazing during the rainy season. A supplement control (no urea) was used containing SBM as a protein source. A total of 21 cows were distributed an incomplete randomized block design with three periods of 21 days each (14 days of adaptation and seven days of collection). The animals entered the paddocks with a pasture height of 110-120cm and left when the grass reached the height of 40-50cm. The concentrated isonitrogenous supplements (24% crude protein, dry matter basis) were provided in the amount of 3.2kg/cow/day (fed basis). There was no effect (P>0.05) on source of crude protein (SBM vs source NPN), source NPN, level of NPN, interaction between source NPN and level of NPN on milk production (10.0kg/day), fat milk production corrected to 3.5% (10.7kg/day), levels of fat (4.01%), protein (3.66%), lactose (4.16%), total solids (12.86%) and non-fat solids (8.60%) in milk. The replacement of CU by SRU does not promote improvement in the productive performance of crossbred dairy cows grazing on elephant grass during the rainy season. Urea (CU or SRU) can be included in up to 6% of the DM concentrated supplements, replacing SBM, without affecting the productive performance of crossbred cows (Holstein x Zebu) in pasture during the rainy season.

More frequent allocation of herbage does not improve the milk production of dairy cows in early lactation

2001 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Dalley ◽  
J. R. Roche ◽  
P. J. Moate ◽  
C. Grainger
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Milk Yield ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Herbage Intake ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Daily Allowance

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that offering a given daily allowance of herbage as smaller feeds more frequently than once per day will increase daily herbage intake and milk yield. In experiment 1 (spring 1995), cows in early lactation were offered either 40 or 65 kg DM/cow.day allowance of herbage as either 1 feed or as 6 equal feeds. The latter cows received a fresh strip of herbage at 0600, 0900, 1100, 1330, 1800 and 2000 hours. The experiment lasted 28 days with treatment effects being measured from days 15 to 28. There were no significant differences in herbage intake (15.6 v. 15.9 kg DM/cow.day), grazing time (9.4 v. 9.5 h/cow.day), milk production (25.4 v. 25.2 L/cow.day) or milk composition between the 1-feed treatment and 6-feed treatment, respectively, during the final 2 weeks of the experiment. Increasing herbage allowance increased (P<0.001) herbage intake. Liveweight loss during the experiment was less (P<0.05) for 6-feed cows than 1-feed cows. A similar experiment was conducted in 1996 (experiment 2); however, all cows were offered a single herbage allowance of 50 kg DM/cow.day. The frequencies of feeding were the same as in experiment 1 except that a new strip of herbage was offered to the 6-feed cows at 0800, 1130, 1700, 2030, 2400 and 0330 hours. The experiment comprised 2 intensive measurement periods, the first in weeks 1 and 2 (period 1) and the second in weeks 4 and 5 (period 2). Herbage intake did not differ between treatments averaging 15.2 and 16.3 kg DM/cow.day for the 1-feedtreatment and 6-feed treatment respectively. Milk yield declined from 27.1 L/cow.day in period l to 25.6 L/cow.day in period 2 and was lower for the 6-feed treatment than for the 1-feed treatment 25.7 and 26.7 L/cow.day, respectively. Offering fresh herbage to the 6-feed cows between 2000 and 0600 hours decreased the proportion of daylight hours these cows spent grazing but did not change total grazing time. Despite the adoption of extreme grazing management procedures in the experiments reported in this paper, we were unable to increase herbage intake or milk production of dairy cows in early lactation. It would appear that farmers have little opportunity to increase herbage intake in early lactation by increasing the frequency of allocation of pasture

The effect of spring grass availability and grazing rotation length on the production and quality of herbage and milk in early spring

2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Claffey ◽  
L. Delaby ◽  
N. Galvin ◽  
T. M. Boland ◽  
M. Egan
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Early Lactation ◽  
Animal Performance ◽  
Rotation Length ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe importance of spring grass in the diet of early lactation dairy cows has been widely acknowledged. Numerous studies completed on a plot/paddock basis have identified methods of increasing herbage availability in spring, but little focus was placed on how this impacts animal production. The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of opening farm cover (OFC; grass availability on farm at turnout in spring; 1036 (high), 748 (medium) and 544 (low) kg DM/ha) and spring rotation length (fast – 56 days and normal – 63 days) on animal performance in early lactation and herbage production and quality. Spring rotation length had little effect on animal performance, herbage variables or sward composition. High OFC increased pre-grazing herbage mass, allowing for increased daily herbage allowance (DHA) compared to medium and low OFC. There was a reduced proportion of leaf in the sward of the high OFC compared to the low OFC, resulting in lower organic matter digestibility. Despite the reduction in sward quality observed as a consequence of achieving high OFC in spring, the greater DHA available to animals increased milk production (+1.4 kg milk/cow/day). Additionally, animals grazing a medium or low OFC had a greater requirement for silage supplementation in spring (+1.3 kg DM/cow/day). The benefits of the higher DHA highlighted in the current study suggest that autumn grazing management must be adapted to increase herbage availability in spring. However, the benefits observed in milk production did not persist beyond the first grazing rotation.

Milk production as a function of supplementation levels with concentrate for dairy cows on an elephant-grass pasture

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joabe Jóbson de Oliveira Pimentel ◽  
Rogério de Paula Lana ◽  
Rafael Monteiro Araújo Teixeira ◽  
Daniel Carneiro de Abreu ◽  
Caren Paludo Ghedini
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Milk Production ◽  
Elephant Grass
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