Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-2l2gl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T18:52:30.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of season of growth and digestibility of herbage on intake by grazing dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. L. Corbett ,
J. P. Langlands  and
G. W. Reid
J. L. Corbett
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen
J. P. Langlands
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen
G. W. Reid
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen
Get access

Summary

1. The intakes of herbage organic matter (OM) and digestible organic matter (DOM) by twenty dairy cows were measured during two periods of strip grazing on one pasture, in spring and late summer of the same year.

2. Results from the first 5-day measurement period in the spring suggested that intakes at this time were restricted primarily because the cows had difficulty in gathering the short herbage. Measurements on ten of the cows continued during a further 5 weeks while the digestibility of the OM of grazed herbage declined from about 80 to 68%. There was a fall of about 20% in DOM intake by the cows during this period; one-quarter of the fall could be ascribed to a reduction in OM intake and the remainder to the decline in digestibility as such.

3. Intakes were measured during two weeks in late summer and were compared with those measured during two weeks in the spring when the digestibility of the grazed herbage was similar. Intakes of DOM expressed as lb./lb. live-weight0·73 were the lower by about 10% in the late summer, or by from 10 to 20% in terms of DOM available for production when allowance had been made for maintenance requirements. This finding is discussed in relation to practical experience of the feeding value of autumn grass.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 1963 , pp. 119 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1963

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Balch, C. C. & Campling, R. C., 1962. Regulation of voluntary food intake in ruminants. Nutr. Abstr. Rev., 32: 669.Google ScholarPubMed
Blaxter, K. L., Wainman, F. W. & Wilson, R. S., 1961. The regulation of food intake by sheep. Anim. Prod., 3: 51.Google Scholar
Blaxter, K. L. & Wilson, R. S., 1962. The voluntary intake of roughages by steers. Anim. Prod., 4: 351.Google Scholar
Campling, R. C. & Holmes, W., 1958. Winter feeding of dairy cows. V. A comparison of the relative value for milk production of artificially dried cocksfoot and a timothy/meadow fescue mixture grown both in spring and in autumn. J. Dairy Res., 25: 147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbett, J. L., 1960. Faecal index techniques for estimating herbage consumption by grazing animals. Proc. VHIth int. Grassl. Congr., Reading, p. 438.Google Scholar
Cokbett, J. L. & Greenhalgh, J. F. D., 1960. Measurement of the quantities of herbage consumed by grazing animals. In The chemical aspects of the production and use of grass. Symposium of Soc. Chem. Ind., Dublin (S.C.I. Monograph no. 9) p. 167.Google Scholar
Corbett, J. L., Greenhalgh, J. F. D., McDonald, I. & Florence, E., 1960. Excretion of chromium sesquioxide administered as a component of paper to sheep. Brit. J. Nutr., 14: 289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbett, J. L., Langlands, J. P. & Boyne, A. W., 1962. Proc. VHIth int. Congr. Anim. Prod., Hamburg, final report, p. 245.Google Scholar
Corbett, J. L., Langlands, J. P. & Pullar, J. D., 1962. Direct calorimetric determination of the net energy value of pasture herbage cut at two seasons of growth. Anim. Prod., 4: 301 (Soc. Proc).Google Scholar
Elliott, R. C., Fokkema, K. & French, C. H., 1961. Herbage consumption studies on beef cattle. Rhodesia agric. J., 58: 124.Google Scholar
Greenhalgh, J. F. D., Corbett, J. L. & McDonald, I., 1960. The indirect estimation of the digestibility of pasture herbage. 2. Regressions of digestibility on faecal nitrogen concentration; their determination in continuous digestibility trials and the effect of various factors on their accuracy. J. agric. Sci., 55: 377.Google Scholar
Greenhalgh, J. F. D. & Runcie, K. V., 1962. The herbage intake and milk production of strip- and zero-grazed dairy cows. J. agric. Sci., 59: 95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, W., 1956. Winter feeding of dairy cows. II. Dried grass produced in spring and in autumn compared with other concentrates and with spring grazing. J. Dairy Res., 23: 13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnstone-Wallace, D. B. & Kennedy, K., 1944. Grazing management practices and their relationship to the behaviour and grazing habits of cattle. J. agric. Sci., 34: 190.Google Scholar
Langlands, J. P., Corbett, J. L. & McDonald, I., 1963. The indirect estimation of the digestibility of pasture herbage. 3. Regressions of digestibility on faecal nitrogen concentration; effects of species and individuality of animal and of the method of determining digestibility upon the relationships. J. agric. Sci. (in press).Google Scholar
Langlands, J. P., Corbett, J. L., McDonald, I. & Reid, G. W., 1963. Estimation of the faeces output of grazing animals from the concentration of chromium sesquioxide in a sample of faeces. 2. Comparison of estimates from samples taken at fixed times of day with estimates from samples collected from the sward. Brit. J. Nutr., 17: 219.Google Scholar
Minson, D. J., Raymond, W. F. & Harris, C. E., 1960. The digestibility of grass species and varieties. Proc. VHIth int. Grassl. Congr., Reading, p. 470.Google Scholar
Minson, D. J., Taylor, J. C., Alder, F. E., Raymond, W. F., Rudman, J. E., Line, C. & Head, M. J., 1960. A method for identifying the faeces produced by individual cattle or groups of cattle grazing together. J. Brit. Grassl. Soc., 15: 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raymond, W. F., Tilley, J. M. A., Deriaz, R. E. & Minson, D. J., 1960. Herbage composition and nutritive value. In The chemical aspects of the production and use of grass. Symposium of Soc. Chem. Ind., Dublin (S.C.I. Monograph no. 9), p. 181.Google Scholar
Watson, S. J., 1949. Feeding of Livestock. Nelson: London.Google Scholar