Feeding Systems Combining Pasture with Concentrate and Total Mixed Rations for High Producing Dairy Cows (original) (raw)

Studies were conducted to determine: 1) the effect of pasture allowance on substitution rate, pasture and total dry matter intake, milk production and composition, rumen digestion, and grazing behavior of unsupplemented and supplemented high producing dairy cows in early-mid lactation, and 2) the effect of feeding systems combining pasture and total mixed rations on dry matter intake, milk production and composition, body weight and body condition score changes, rumen digestion and grazing behavior of high producing dairy cows in early-mid lactation. Pastures grazed in the studies were based on smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis L.) and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.). In the first study, twenty multiparous Holstein cows (4 ruminally cannulated) in five 4 x 4 Latin squares with 21-d periods were used to study the effect of concentrate supplementation when grazed at two pasture allowances. The four dietary treatments resulted from the combination of two pasture allowance targets ...