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Reducing Concentrate Feeding for Lactating Dairy Cows¹

Department of Animal Sciences and Office of Biometrics, New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, Durham 03824

ABSTRACT

A continuous trial with 105 lactations covering 5 harvest yr was to study effects of reducing annual concentrate feeding and method of its allocation on ad libitum forage intake, production, herd health and profitability in Holstein cows. Forage was offered free-choice during lactation, and a common concentrate was offered to all cows. Treatments were (concentrate:milk in wk 1 to 8; rate of decline after wk 8; and annual concentrate as a theoretical percent of treatment) 1) 1:2.0, normal, 100; 2) 1:2.5, normal, 80; 3) 1:2.0, abrupt, 80; 4) 1:3.3, normal 60; and 5) 1:2.5, abrupt, 60.

Total lactation milk yields were not different among treatments, but a trend in lactation 1 was for more milk, forage intake, and income-over-feed cost on treatment 4 in which concentrate intake was 1,686 kg/312 days. Increasing concentrate to 2,261 kg encouraged excessive gain (122 kg) in body weight in well-grown (502 kg) first-calf heifers. Likewise, trend was for greater profitability of cows in lactations > 1 on treatment 3 in which concentrate (2,182 kg) was fed heavily in early lactation and reduced essentially to zero at 3 3 wk postpartum. Substitution of concentrate for forage, herd health, and reproductive efficiency are discussed.

¹ Scientific Contribution Number 1064 from the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station.

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