Increasing concentrate levels during the grazing season - effects on yield and behaviour of dairy cows

• In a six-week grazing trial, 27 lactating dairy cows (Swedish Red Breed) were randomly assigned to five treatments with different concentrate levels in their diet: 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60% of each cow’s energy requirement at the start of the study. The cows were fed their treatments twice daily together with 4 kg dry matter (DM) silage in the barn in connection with milking. The cows grazed together on 10.5 ha in a rotational grazing system with 6 paddocks. The average energy content and daily allowance of pasture was 10.8 MJ metabolisable energy per kg DM and 20 kg DM per cow. A 10% increase in the proportion of concentrates in the diet reduced grazing and rumination time by 4.1% (P < 0.001) and 2.1% (P < 0.01), respectively. With a 10% increase of the proportion of concentrate in the diet, milk yield increased by 1.5 kg (P < 0.001). An increase in concentrates of 1 kg gave an average response in milk yield with 0.8 kg milk. The results indicate that feeding concentrates up to 60% of energy requirements during the pasture season is profitable when concentrat prices are below 0.8 of the payment for milk

Subject headings

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Veterinärmedicin (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Veterinary Science (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Husdjursvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Animal and Dairy Sience (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)