Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T08:59:03.158Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of the level of concentrate supplementation, herbage allowance and milk yield at turn-out on the performance of dairy cows in mid lactation at grazing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

L. Delaby ,
J. L. Peyraud  and
R. Delagarde
Get access

Abstract

In order to establish the response of dairy cow performance to concentrate supplementation in contrasting grazing conditions and for cows differing in milk yield at turn-out, three experiments were conducted. Each year, two levels of herbage allowance were studied in interaction with four (experiment 1) or three (experiments 2 and 3) levels of concentrate on two groups of 30 to 40 mid-lactation Holstein cows producing between 20 and 46 kg milk at turnout. Amount of concentrate and herbage allowance ranged from 0 to 6 kg fresh weight and from 12 to 22 kg dry matter (DM) per cow per day respectively. The supplementation led to average responses, per kg DM concentrate, of 104 kg milk, +66 g/day body-weight gain, +0·19 g/kg milk protein and -0·57 g/kg milk fat. These responses remained linear up to 4 or 6 kg according to the years and treatments. The response to the concentrate did not vary with the milk yield or composition at turn-out. The increase in the herbage allowance from 12 to 16 kg DM per cow per day (experiment 1) improved milk yield (+1·2 kg/day) and milk protein (+0·7 g/kg) while the increase from 16 to 22 kg DM (experiments 2 and 3) had less effect (+0·5 kg/day milk yield and +0·4 g/kg milk protein). There was no clear interaction between concentrate supplementation and herbage allowance. Under the usual conditions of spring pasture, with cows in mid lactation, the use of a constant level of concentrate at grazing proves to be a technique of some interest.

Keywords

dairy cowsgrazingherbagemilk yieldsupplements.
Type
Ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , August 2001 , pp. 171 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aufrère, J. and Demarquilly, C. 1989. Predicting organic matter digestibility of forage by two pepsin-cellulase methods. Proceedings of the XVI international grassland congress, AFPF, Nice, France, pp. 877–878.Google Scholar
Clements, A. J., Huckle, C. A. and Wilkins, R. J. 1992. The effects of sward height and level of concentrate supplementation on the milk production of spring-calving dairy cows grazing grass-clover swards. Occasional symposium of the British Grassland Society no. 26, Reading, UK, pp. 145–149.Google Scholar
Coulon, J. B. and Rémond, B. 1991. Variations in milk output and milk protein content in response to the level of energy supply to the dairy cow: a review. Livestock Production Science 29: 31–47.Google Scholar
Delaby, L. and Peyraud, J. L. 1997. Influence of concentrate supplementation strategy on grazing dairy cow’s performance. Proceedings of the XVIII international grassland congress, Winnipeg, Canada, session 29, pp. 137–138.Google Scholar
Delaby, L., Peyraud, J. L. and Delagarde, R. 1999. Production des vaches laitières au pâturage sans concentré. In Rencontre autour des recherches sur les ruminants, Paris, no. 6, pp. 123–126.Google Scholar
Dillon, P., Crosse, S. and O’Brien, B. 1997. Effect of concentrate supplementation of grazing dairy cows in early lactation on milk production and milk processing quality. Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research 36: 145–159.Google Scholar
Ettala, E., Rinne, K., Virtanen, E. and Rissanen, H. 1986. Effect of supplements concentrates on the milk yields of cows grazing good pasture. Annales Agriculturae Fenniae 25: 111–125.Google Scholar
Faverdin, P., Hoden, A. and Coulon, J. B. 1987. Recommendations alimentaires pour les vaches laitières. Bulletin Technique du CRZV de Theix, INRA 70: 133–152.Google Scholar
Faverdin, P., Dulphy, J. P., Coulon, J. B., Vérité, R., Garel, J. P., Rouel, J. and Marquis, B. 1991. Substitution of roughage by concentrates for dairy cows. Livestock Production Science 27: 137–156.Google Scholar
Grainger, C. and Matthews, G. L. 1989. Positive relation between substitution rate and pasture allowance for cows receiving concentrates. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 29: 355–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoden, A., Peyraud, J. L., Muller, A., Delaby, L. and Faverdin, P. 1991. Simplified rotational grazing management of dairy cows: effects of rates of stocking and concentrate. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 116: 417–428.Google Scholar
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique. 1989. Ruminant nutrition. Recommended allowances and feed tables (ed. Jarrige, R.). INRA and John Libbey Eurotext, Paris.Google Scholar
Journet, M. and Demarquilly, C. 1979. Grazing. In Feeding strategy for the high yielding cow (ed. Broster, W. H. and Swan, H.), pp. 295–321. Canada Publishing Co., St Albans.Google Scholar
Kolver, E. S. and Muller, L. D. 1997. Performance and nutrient intake of high producing Holstein cows consuming pasture or a total mixed ration. Journal of Dairy Science 81: 1403–1411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leaver, J. D. 1985. Milk production from grazed temperate grassland. Journal of Dairy Research 52: 313–344.Google Scholar
Leaver, J. D., Campling, R. C. and Holmes, W. 1968. Use of supplementary feeds for grazing dairy cows. Dairy Science Abstracts 30: 355–361.Google Scholar
McGilloway, D. A. and Mayne, C. S. 1996. The importance of grass availability for the high genetic merit dairy cow. In Recent advances in animal nutrition (ed. Garnsworthy, P. C., Wiseman, J. and Haresign, W.), pp. 135–169. Nottingham University Press.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S. 1991. Effects of supplementation on the performance of both growing and lactating cattle at pasture. Occasional symposium of the British Grassland Society no. 25, pp. 55–71.Google Scholar
Mayne, C. S. and Peyraud, J. L. 1996. Recent advances in grassland utilization under grazing and conservation. In Grassland and land use systems (ed. Parente, G., Frame, J. and Orsi, S.), proceedings of the 16th European Grassland Federation meeting, Grado, Italia, pp. 347–360.Google Scholar
Peyraud, J. L., Comeron, E. A., Wade, M. H. and Lemaire, G. 1996. The effect of daily herbage allowance, herbage mass and animal factors upon herbage intake by grazing dairy cows. Annales de Zootechnie 45: 201–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peyraud, J. L., Gonzalez-Rodriguez, A. 2000. Relations between grass production, supplementation and intake in grazing dairy cows. In Grassland farming (ed. Soegaard, K., Ohlsson, C., Sehestad, J., Hutchings, N. J. and Kristensen, T.), proceedings of the 18th European Grassland Federation meeting, Aalborg, Denmark, pp. 269–282.Google Scholar
Robaina, A. C., Grainger, C., Moate, P., Taylor, J. and Stewart, J. 1998. Responses to grain feeding by grazing dairy cows. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 38: 541–549.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J., Huckle, C. A. and Wilkins, R. J. 1994. The effects of sward height and concentrate supplementation on the performance of spring calving dairy cows grazing perennial ryegrass-white clover swards. Animal Production 58: 167–172.Google Scholar
Steel, R. G. D. and Torrie, J. H. 1981. Principles and procedures of statistics: a biometrical approach, second international edition. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Paris.Google Scholar
Stockdale, C. R. and Trigg, T. E. 1985. Effect of pasture allowance and level of concentrate feeding on the productivity of dairy cows in late lactation. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 25: 739–744.Google Scholar
Urban, B. and Caudal, J. P. 1990. Herbomètre automatisé. In Les journées de la mesure. Electronique, informatique, automatique, pp. 57–59. INRA Dept Informatique, Port Leucate, France.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. and Wine, R. H. 1967. Use of detergents in the analysis of fibrous feeds. Determination of plant cellwall constituents. Journal of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists 50: 50–55.Google Scholar
Wilkins, R. J., Gibb, M. J. and Huckle, C. A. 1995. Lactation performance of spring-calving dairy cows grazing mixed perennial ryegrass/white clover swards of differing composition and height. Grass and Forage Science 50: 199–208.Google Scholar
Wilkins, R. J., Gibb, M. J., Huckle, C. A. and Clements, A. J. 1994. Effect of supplementation on production by spring-calving dairy cows grazing swards of differing clover content. Grass and Forage Science 49: 465–475.Google Scholar