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The Value of Alfalfa Hay and Alfalfa Silage When Fed as Supplements to Cows on Pasture¹

Dairy Section, University of Kentucky, Lexington

ABSTRACT

Alfalfa hay and alfalfa silage did not increase the milk production of cows on pasture, but both reduced the amount of dry matter obtained from pasture feeding. Editor.

Summer slumps in milk production are common in most states. Efforts to prevent or minimize this condition have followed various routes.

A limited amount of work has been done to determine the value of supplementing summer pastures with such feedstuffs as hay, silage, or an extra allotment of grain over and above that normally fed to milk cows. The results of these studies have been reviewed previously (7).

During the summer of 1954 Seath et al. (7) fed cows grazing a Kentucky bluegrass pasture twice daily all the alfalfa hay they would consume. No improvement in milk production was noted, although they did observe significant gains in body weight as a result of hay feeding. Cows fed hay consumed significantly less dry matter from pasture than cows not fed hay.

¹ The investigation reported in this paper is in connection with a project of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and is published by permission of the Director.

² Present address: Michigan State University, East Lansing.