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The effects of including white clover in perennial ryegrass swards and the height of mixed swards on the milk production, sward selection and ingestive behaviour of dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

C. J. C. Phillips  and
N. L. James
C. J. C. Phillips
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW
N. L. James
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW
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Abstract

Two experiments were conducted with dairy cows to examine the effects of including white clover in perennial ryegrass swards and of offering the cows a choice between tall and short mixed perennial ryegrass/white clover swards. In the first experiment, cows grazed a perennial ryegrass sward (treatment Prg); a mixed sward of perennial ryegrass and white clover (treatment WC); treatment Prg during the night and treatment WC during the day (treatment Prg night/WC day); or they were offered a choice between Prg and WC (treatment Prg/WC). Cows in treatment WC produced more milk than cows in treatment Prg, with cows in Prg night/WC day and Prg/WC intermediate. The milk fat content of cows in treatment Prg was greater than in the other three treatments. When cows were offered both mixed grass/clover and pure grass swards (treatments Prg night/WC day and Prg/WC) they exhibited a partial preference for the WC sward and grazed it to a lower herbage height than the pure grass sward. In the second experiment, cows were offered a WC sward at 6 or 3·5 cm sward surface height, or a choice between pastures at the two heights. Cows offered only the tall sward produced most milk, and those offered only the short sward produced the least. Milk fat content was reduced for cows offered only the tall sward. Cows offered a choice of the tall or short swards spent longer grazing in total than the cows offered only tall or only short swards but there was no difference in the time spent grazing the tall and short swards.

Keywords

dairy cowsherbagemilk compositionselective grazingTrifolium repens
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , October 1998 , pp. 195 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998

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