HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gaines, W. L. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Gaines, W. L.

Feed Units for Lactation, Working Maintenance and Gain in Live Weight in Danish Dairy Cows

Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, Urbana, Illinois

ABSTRACT

Six hundred sixty-six records of Red Danish cows on farms in Denmark are analyzed to apportion the nutrients consumed between lactation, working maintenance, and gain in live weight.

A feeding standard derived from the records disagrees in some respects with the standard which guided the feeding of the cows. Notably, the standard used assigns nutrients for working maintenance proportional to the
power of live weight, while the present analysis of the records shows the nutrients for working maintenance are proportional to live weight.

The present standard from records of Red Danish cows, compared with the standard similarly derived from records of Guernsey, Holstein, and Jersey cows in Experiment Station herds in the United States, shows a great difference, as follows:

where DN is digestible nutrients consumed, pounds per day; FCM is milk energy yield, pounds of 4 per cent milk per day; W is live weight of cow, pounds. It is tentatively concluded that the Red Danish cow is not so well developed as a milking cow, requiring more feed energy for lactation per unit of milk energy produced, but, on the other hand, is a more sluggish cow requiring less feed energy for working maintenance per unit live weight. A feeding standard for cows in milk needs to be adapted to the particular breed or kind of cows for which it is used.

The Danish and American data agree in indicating that working maintenance is proportional to live weight, and not to a fractional power of live weight.