Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T17:02:21.502Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of supplementing grazing dairy cows with straw-based mixtures of differing composition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

A. Hameleers ,
D. J. Immenga  and
D. J. Roberts
A. Hameleers
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Food Systems Division, Crichton Royal Farm, Bankend Road, Dumfries DG1 4SZ, UK
D. J. Immenga
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Food Systems Division, Crichton Royal Farm, Bankend Road, Dumfries DG1 4SZ, UK
Get access

Abstract

Two groups of grazing lactating dairy cows (no. = 10) were offered straw/sugar-beet pulp mixtures of different straw and sugar-beet pulp content. The low straw mixture (LS) contained 310, 592, 65, 9 and 24 g/kg dry matter (DM) of barley straw, sugar-beet pulp, cane molasses, urea and minerals respectively. The high straw mixture (HS) contained 540, 359, 65, 12 and 24 g/kg DM of these ingredients. This resulted in metabolizable energy and DM degradability values of 10·4 and 8·4 MJ/kg DM and 0·48 and 0·42 for mixture LS and HS, respectively. In experiment 1, the mixtures were offered for 1 h after each milking while in experiment 2 the amount of LS available was restricted to the intake of the HS mixture. The animals continuously grazed a perennial ryegrass sward with sward height maintained at 7·5 and 6·9 cm respectively for experiment 1 and 2. Forage intakes in both experiments were measured using the n-alkane technique. In experiment 1, intakes of the forage supplement were 5·3 and 2·3 kg DM per day (s.e.d. = 0·51, P < 0·001), while herbage intake was 11·5 and 14·5 kg DM per day (s.e.d. = 0·77, P = 0·004), resulting in total forage intakes of 16·9 and 16·7 kg DM per day for treatments LS and HS respectively. No significant differences in terms of time spent grazing, ruminating and eating forage supplement were observed. No significant differences in terms of animal performance were observed. In experiment 2 intakes of the forage supplements were 2·8 kg DM per day for both treatments while herbage intake was 13·0 and 13·2 kg DM per day (s.e.d. = 110) resulting in total daily intakes of 15·8 and 16·0 kg DM (s.e.d. = 1·24) for treatment LS and HS, respectively. No significant differences in terms of grazing time, rumination time or animal performance were detected. It was concluded that under conditions when herbage was readily available, higher amounts of high energy/high degradability forage supplement were consumed than of low energy low degradability forage supplements. However, total dry matter intakes were equal. Intake from forage supplements seem to be affected by short-term fill effects in this situation.

Keywords

dairy cowsgrazingsupplements.
Type
Ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , December 2001 , pp. 579 - 586
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

Alexander, R. H. and McGowan, H. 1969. The assessment of the nutritive value of silage by determination of in vitro digestibility on homogenates prepared from fresh undried silage. Journal of the British Grassland Society 29: 195–198.Google Scholar
Aston, K., Daley, S. R. and Gibbs, B. G. 1987. Effects of offering silage overnight in the early grazing season to autumn-calved cows. Animal Production 44: 173–181.Google Scholar
Balch, C. C. and Campling, R. C. 1962. Regulation of voluntary food intake in ruminants. Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews 32: 669–686.Google ScholarPubMed
Biggs, D. A. 1979. Performance specification for infra-red analysis, Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 62: 1211–1214.Google Scholar
Dillon, P. 1993. The use of n-alkanes as markers to determine intake, botanical composition of available consumed herbage in studies of digesta kinetics with dairy cows. Ph. D. thesis, National University of Ireland, Dublin.Google Scholar
Dove, H. and Mayes, R. W. 1991. The use of plant wax alkanes as marker substances in studies of the nutrition of herbivores. A review. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 42: 913–952.Google Scholar
Dove, H. and Mayes, R. W. 1996. Plant wax components: a new approach to estimating intake and diet composition in herbivores. American Journal of Nutrition 126: 13–26.Google Scholar
Hameleers, A. and Mayes, R. W. 1998a. The use of n-alkanes to estimate herbage intake and diet composition by dairy cows offered perennial ryegrass/white clover mixture. Grass and Forage Science 53: 164–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hameleers, A. and Mayes, R. W. 1998b. The use of n-alkanes to estimate supplementary grass silage intake in grazing dairy cows. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 13: 205–209.Google Scholar
Hill Farming Research Organisation. 1986. Biennial report 1984-1985. HFRO, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Hodgson, J. 1985. Grazing behaviour and herbage intake. In Grazing (ed. Frame, J.), British Grassland Society occasional symposium no. 19, pp. 51–64.Google Scholar
Jamieson, W. S. and Hodgson, J. 1979. The effects of variations in sward characteristics upon the ingestive behaviour and herbage intake of calves and lambs under continuous stocking management. Grass and Forage Science 34: 273–282.Google Scholar
King, K. R. and Stockdale, C. R. 1981. Hay supplements to overcome underfeeding of dairy cows; late lactation. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture: Animal Husbandry 21: 157–162.Google Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1990. Genstat V release 2·2. Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire.Google Scholar
Le Du, Y. L. P. and Hutchinson, M. 1982. Milk from grass. In Grazing (ed. Thomas, C. and Young, J. W.), pp. 43–57. ICI Agricultural Division, Billingham and Grassland Research Institute, Hurley.Google Scholar
Mayes, R. W., Lamb, C. S. and Colgrove, P. M. 1986. The use of dosed and herbage n-alkanes as markers for the determination of herbage intake. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 107: 161–170.Google Scholar
Mbanya, J. N., Anil, M. H. and Forbes, J. M. 1993. The voluntary intake of hay and silage by lactating cows in response to ruminal infusion of acetate or propionate, or both, with or without distension of the rumen by a balloon. British Journal of Nutrition 67: 713–720.Google Scholar
Mertens, D. R. 1987. Predicting intake and digestibility using mathematical models of ruminal function. Journal of Animal Science 64: 1548–1558.Google Scholar
Mulvany, P. M. 1977. Dairy cow condition scoring. National Institute for Research in Dairying, Reading, UK, paper no. 4468.Google Scholar
Ørskov, E. R. and McDonald, I. 1979. The estimation of protein degradability in the rumen from incubation measurements weighted according to rate of passage. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92: 499–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. and Leaver, J. D. 1985a. Supplementary feeding of forage to grazing dairy cows. 1. Offering hay to dairy cows at high and low stocking rates. Grass and Forage Science 40: 183–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, C. J. C. and Leaver, J. D. 1985b. Supplementary feeding of forage to grazing dairy cows. 2. Offering grass silage in early and late season. Grass and Forage Science 40: 193–199.Google Scholar
Roberts, D. J. 1990. A comparison of different energy levels in straw/concentrate mixtures used for partial storage feeding of dairy cows. Grass and Forage Science 45: 303–308.Google Scholar
Roberts, D. J. 1989. A comparison of buffer and partial storage feeding of a straw/concentrate mixture to grazing dairy cows. Grass and Forage Science 44: 399–404.Google Scholar
Roberts, D. J. and Kelly, E. F. 1990. Comparison of a straw/ concentrate mixture with silage as a buffer feed for grazing dairy cows. Grass and Forage Science 45: 103–106.Google Scholar
Stockdale, C. R., King, K. R., Patterson, I. F. and Ryan, D. T. 1981. Hay supplements to overcome underfeeding of dairy cows; early lactation. Australian Journal of Experimental Animal Husbandry 21: 148–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilley, T. M. A. and Terry, R. A. 1963. A two silage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18: 104–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Soest, P. J., Robertson, J. B. and Lewis, B. A. 1991. Methods for dietary fibre, neutral detergent fibre and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science 74: 3568–3597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. and Wine, R. H. 1967. Use of the detergent in the analysis of fibrous feeds. IV. Determination of plant cell wall constitutents. Journal of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists 50: 50–55.Google Scholar