scholarly journals Effect of pasture allowance and cows’ lactation stage on perennial ryegrass sward quality, pasture dry matter intake and milk performance of Holstein-Friesian cows

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 393 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. I. Roca-Fernández ◽  
A. González-Rodríguez ◽  
O. P. Vázquez-Yáñez
1981 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Thomas ◽  
S. R. Daley ◽  
K. Aston ◽  
P. M. Hughes

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.


1992 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Lucy ◽  
C. R. Staples ◽  
W. W. Thatcher ◽  
P. S. Erickson ◽  
R. M. Cleale ◽  
...  

AbstractLactating Holstein-Friesian cows from two calving groups (no. = 90) were studied during the early post-partum period to determine the effect of dry-matter intake (DM1), 40 g/kg fat-corrected milk (FCM) production, energy balance (EB), parity, and food additives (calcium salts of long-chain fatty acids [CaLCFA] and niacin) on the recrudescence of ovarian function and establishment of pregnancy. Cows that ovulated early during the post-partum period (15 to 21 days after calving) consumed more food and tended to produce more FCM compared with cows ovulating later (22 to 42 days or after 42 days). Primiparous cows had lower EB and tended to have longer intervals to first ovulation compared with multiparous cows but the average interval to pregnancy was similar for primiparous and multiparous cows. Feeding CaLCFA tended to extend the interval to first service and decreased pregnancy rate. Production characteristics (including DMI and FCM production) seem to determine interval from calving to first ovulation as well as interval from calving to pregnancy (days open). Fertility was affected negatively by feeding CaLCFA.


1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 633 ◽  
Author(s):  
SC Valentine ◽  
BD Bartsch

Milk production and composition were measured for 49 days in early lactation in 40 Holstein-Friesian cows fed 8 kg/day (fresh weight) of 1:1 mixtures of either rolled barley-lupin grain (Lupinus angustifolius L. cv. Gungurru) or barley-common vetch grain (Vicia sativa L. cv. Blanche Fleur). All cows were fed 1 kg/day of a pelleted concentrate containing minerals and vitamins, and wilted perennial ryegrass-subterranean clover pasture silage was available ad libitum with restricted grazing of perennial ryegrass-subterranean clover pasture. Cows ate all of the barley-lupin grain and barley-vetch grain mixtures. Mean daily dry matter intakes of silage (kg/cow.day) were 9.9 and 9.8 for cows fed the barley-lupin grain and barley-vetch grain mixtures respectively. Estimated pasture DM intake was 3.0 kg/cow.day. Mean daily yields of milk (L), fat (kg) and protein (kg) were significantly (P<0.001) greater for cows fed the barley-lupin grain mixture (30.3, 1.30 and 0.92 respectively) than for those fed the barley-vetch grain mixture (27.7, 1.23 and 0.87 respectively). Cows fed the barley-vetch grain mixture gained 0.2 kg/day more liveweight than those fed the barley-lupin grain mixture. Although both common vetch grain and lupin grain were readily eaten by dairy cows, when fed as protein supplements to a high quality silage and pasture-based diet in early lactation, cows fed the vetch grain produced less milk and milk components. This may be related to the greater partitioning of nutrients to liveweight gain rather than to toxicity problems in the cows fed vetch grain.


2014 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. RICHMOND ◽  
A. R. G. WYLIE ◽  
A. S. LAIDLAW ◽  
F. O. LIVELY

SUMMARYTwo experiments were carried out to evaluate different dosing and sampling regimes for estimating the dry matter intake (DMI) of vegetation by grazing beef cattle. Experiment 1 compared the DMI of a perennial ryegrass pasture by 48 grazing beef cattle dosed with C32n-alkane and faecally sampled at different time intervals. The cattle, of dairy and suckler origin, were balanced by origin and allocated to one of three alkane-dosing treatments (n=16): T1, dosed once daily (10.30 h) with two 500 mg boluses of C32 alkanes; T2, dosed twice daily (09.00 and 16.00 h) with a 500 mg bolus of C32n-alkane; and T3, dosed twice daily (07.00 and 19.00 h) with a 500 mg bolus of C32n-alkane. Faecal samples were collected concurrently with dosing in each treatment. Dosing interval had no effect on estimated DMI, when calculated using the n-alkane content of faeces sampled concurrently with dosing, suggesting that once-daily dosing with concurrent faecal sampling is adequate to estimate DMI by beef cattle. The objective of Expt 2 was to compare the accuracy of herbage DMI estimated using a once-daily C32 alkane dosing regime and n-alkane concentrations in faeces sampled at 09.00, 13.00, 17.00 and 21.00 h, against DMI measured directly. Twelve Holstein-Friesian bulls (mean body weight 265 kg) were housed individually in digestibility stalls and offered harvested perennial ryegrass or harvested semi-natural upland vegetation, both ad libitum. The DMI estimated by once-daily dosing with n-alkane and concurrent per rectum faecal sampling did not differ significantly from the directly measured DMI for either herbage type. It is concluded that a once-daily alkane dosing and concurrent faecal sampling protocol is adequate to reliably estimate the DMI of both upland and lowland pasture vegetation by beef cattle.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. e0608
Author(s):  
Ana I. Roca-Fernández ◽  
Antonio González-Rodríguez

The aim was to evaluate the prediction accuracy of pasture dry matter intake (PDMI) and milk yield (MY) predicted by the GrazeIn model using a database representing 124 PDMI measurements at paddock level and 2232 MY measurements at cow level. External validation of the model was conducted using data collected from a trial carried out with Holstein-Friesian cows (n=72) while grazed 28 paddocks and were managed in a 2×2 factorial design by considering two calving dates (CD), with different number of days in milk (DIM), early (E, 29 DIM) vs. middle (M, 167 DIM), and two stocking rates (SR), medium (M, 3.9 cows ha-1) vs. high (H, 4.8 cows ha-1), under a rotational grazing system. Cows were randomly assigned to four grazing scenarios (EM, EH, MM and MH). The mean observed PDMI of the total database was 14.2 kg DM cow-1 day-1 while GrazeIn predicted a mean PDMI for the database of 13.8 kg DM cow-1 day-1. The mean bias was −0.4 kg DM cow-1 day-1. GrazeIn predicted PDMI for the total database with a relative prediction error (RPE) of 10.0% at paddock level. The mean observed MY of the database was 23.2 kg cow-1 day-1 while GrazeIn predicted a MY for the database of 23.1 kg cow-1 day-1. The mean bias was –0.1 kg cow-1 day-1. GrazeIn predicted MY for the total database with a mean RPE of 17.3% at cow level. For the scenarios investigated, GrazeIn predicted PDMI and MY with a low level of error which made it a suitable tool for decision support systems.


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