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Milk production from silage and concentrates containing varying proportions of dried grass and cereals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

F. J. Gordon
F. J. Gordon
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute, Hillsborough, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
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Summary

Twenty-eight lactating cows were used in an experiment of changeover design with four periods to evaluate concentrates containing 0, 16, 32, 49, 65, 81 and 97% dried grass. The dry matter of the dried grass was 63% digestible. The concentrates also contained barley, together with groundnut meal to equalize their protein content at approximately 16-5% of dry matter. All animals had grass silage ad libitum and all concentrates were given at the rate of 0·4 kg/kg milk. Milk yield, milk composition and liveweight change were not affected by including dried grass in the concentrate. No significant effect of concentrate on silage intake was obtained. Ration digestibility and nitrogen utilization were measured with four animals per treatment. The digestibility of dry matter, organic matter and nitrogen was not reduced by increasing the proportion of dried grass in the concentrate. The efficiency of utilization of apparently digested nitrogen for total productive purposes (body retention and milk nitrogen) was also not affected by the proportion of dried grass.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 1975 , pp. 173 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1975

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