scholarly journals Effects of dry period management on milk production, dry matter intake, and energy balance of dairy cows

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Khazanehei ◽  
S. Li ◽  
E. Khafipour ◽  
J. C. Plaizier

Khazanehei, H., Li, S., Khafipour, E. and Plaizier, J. C. 2015. Effects of dry period management on milk production, dry matter intake, and energy balance of dairy cows. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 95: 433–444. Effects of dry-period management on milk production, feed intake, and energy balance were determined in 11 second-parity (PAR 2) and 15 third or later parity (PAR 3+) cows. Cows were paired based on expected calving date, and randomly assigned to treatments including a conventional 60-d dry period with a 39-d far-off and a 21-d close-up diet (CONV), and a short 40-d dry period with only a close-up diet (SHORT). Treatment did not affect dry matter intake (DMI) and energy balance across the 6 wk before calving and the 4 wk after calving. Across the first 16 wk of lactation, cows on the short treatment had lower milk yield compared to cows on the CONU treatment that was mostly due to the lower production in PAR 3+ cows. Also, PAR 3+ cows on the SHORT treatment had lower milk protein yields and higher somatic cell counts than the other cows. In general, PAR 2 cows on the SHORT treatment had similar DMI, fat corrected milk yields, and protein and fat yields and percentages compared to cows in both parity groups on the CONV treatment. This suggests that the SHORT treatment may be suitable for PAR 2 cows, but not for older cows.

2007 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 1729-1739 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.R. Rastani ◽  
N. Silva del Rio ◽  
T.F. Gressley ◽  
G.E. Dahl ◽  
R.R. Grummer

1999 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. UNAL ◽  
P. C. GARNSWORTHY

Dry matter intake is one of the major factors limiting milk production in dairy cows, although the quantity of food consumed by an individual cow when housed and fed as part of a group is rarely known. Such information would permit more precise ration formulation, concentrate allocation and selection of cows according to efficiency of milk production. Alkanes have been used with sheep and cattle to estimate feed intake under grazing conditions and could provide a technique for measuring intake in housed dairy cows. The purpose of this study was to examine alkanes C32 and C36, in combination with alkane C33, as indigestible markers for estimating intake of housed dairy cows fed on different diets under experimental and commercial conditions. Three experiments were conducted with hay-based diets (Expt 1), silage only diets (Expt 2) and a diet consisting of a silage-based basal ration plus concentrates (Expt 3). Animals were dosed once daily with C32 and C36, either on filter papers (Expts 1 and 2) or as part of a specially prepared concentrate (Expt 3). Faecal recoveries of alkanes ranged from 0·88 to 0·99. Over the range of intakes found in the three experiments (6–24 kg DM/d), the r2 values for estimated versus actual dry matter intakes ranged from 0·81 to 0·99. It is concluded that alkanes could provide a useful technique for estimating intake in dairy cows housed and fed in groups.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 923 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Moate ◽  
D. E. Dalley ◽  
J. R. Roche ◽  
C. Grainger

Summary. The effect of herbage allowance (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 kg DM/cow. day) on the consumption of nutrients from herbage and milk production by cows in early lactation, was examined. The experiment was conducted on rainfed perennial ryegrass pastures in September and October 1997 in south-eastern Victoria, Australia. The herbage on offer comprised 64% perennial ryegrass, 21% other grasses, 1% white clover, 5% weeds and 9% dead material on a dry matter (DM) basis. The average pregrazing herbage height was 13 cm, at an estimated pregrazing herbage mass of 3.6 t DM/ha. The herbage on offer was of high quality containing 11.6 MJ metabolisable energy/kg DM, 202 g crude protein/kg DM and 525 g neutral detergent fibre/kg DM. Concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and chloride were 4.4, 2.2, 4.4, 31.2, 3.5, 2.7 and 11.4 g/kg DM, respectively. As daily herbage allowance per cow increased, dry matter intake increased curvilinearly (P<0.01) from 11.2 to 18.7 kg DM/cow. day. This was associated with a decrease in utilisation of herbage from 54 to 26% and an increase in milk production from 25.9 to 29.1 kg/cow. day. The cows on all treatments grazed for less than 8.7 h/day. The increase in intake was achieved by an increase in the rate of herbage intake from 1.5 to 2.2 kg DM/h for herbage allowances of 20 and 70 kg/cow.day, respectively. Irrespective of herbage allowance, cows selected a diet that was approximately 10% higher in in vitro dry matter digestibility and 30% higher in crude protein than that in the herbage on offer. The neutral detergent fibre content of the herbage selected was lower (P<0.05) than that on offer. The herbage consumed contained more (P<0.05) magnesium, potassium and sulfur, the same amount of calcium and phosphorus and less (P<0.05) sodium and chloride than the herbage on offer. For rainfed perennial pastures in spring, herbage allowance is an important factor in determining voluntary feed intake and production of dairy cows. To achieve 30 L from herbage, without supplementation, high herbage allowances are required. The increase in herbage intake, with increasing herbage allowance, resulted from an increase in rate of dry matter intake and not an increase in grazing time. No relationship was evident between herbage allowance and the selection differentials for in vitro dry matter digestibility, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre. Selection differentials for rainfed perennial pastures in spring are similar to those reported for irrigated perennial pastures in northern Victoria in spring and autumn. When determining nutrient requirements it is important to consider the interaction between herbage intake and nutrient concentration in the herbage.


1986 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. ERFLE ◽  
F. D. SAUER ◽  
S. MAHADEVAN ◽  
R. M. TEATHER

In two experiments, lactating cows (26 in exp. 1; 32 in exp. 2) were fed an 11.3% crude protein (CP) diet, a 14.7% CP diet containing untreated soybean meal (SBM) or a 14.6% CP diet containing formaldehyde-treated SBM (FSBM), all three fed as a complete blended diet with control corn silage (CCS) (exp. 1); a 12% CP diet, a 13.4% CP diet containing SBM or a 13.3% CP diet containing FSBM, all fed as a complete blended diet with urea-treated corn silage (UCS) (exp. 2). In both experiments concentrates and CCS or UCS were mixed (50:50 dry matter) daily and fed ad lib for a 16-wk period. The increase of CP over the low CP negative control by addition of untreated SBM resulted in a significant (P < 0.05) increase in milk production in both experiments. The addition of FSBM had no significant effect. When comparing solids-corrected milk (SCM), addition of SBM, whether treated or not, significantly increased SCM in both experiments. In neither experiment did FSBM improve milk production over untreated SBM. All animals fed CCS lost body weight but there was no difference between treatments. For animals fed UCS the low CP group lost significantly (P < 0.05) more body weight than did the group fed FSBM. Dry matter (DM) intake was significantly (P < 0.05) lower for the FSBM fed group than for the group fed untreated SBM in exp. 1 (CCS). DM intake was significantly (P < 0.05) increased by either FSBM or SBM over the low CP control fed UCS. Milk protein was the only component significantly (P < 0.05) decreased by FSBM in exp. 1. Isobutyric and isovaleric acids were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in rumen fluid of animals on FSBM plus CCS. Rumen microbial protein content seemed to be more adversely affected by FSBM with CCS than UCS. Amino acid content of FSBM and SBM demonstrated that lysine and tyrosine were lost from SBM after treatment with formaldehyde. The lack of a response in milk production to FSBM is discussed in terms of a lysine and tyrosine deficiency for milk protein synthesis and the adverse effect that formaldehyde protection of SBM may have on the rumen microbial population. Key words: Lactation, dairy cows, urea, corn silage, soybean meal, formaldehyde treatment


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