The transition period of the dairy cow is physiologically and nutritionally stressful, particularly as feed intake is reduced and nutrient demands for foetal growth and initiation of milk synthesis are increased. It has been suggested that feeding concentrates in late gestation promotes the development of ruminal papillae, which takes 4 to 6 weeks to fully develop, consequently resulting in improved absorption of volatile fatty acids and increased food intake during early lactation. A recent study undertaken at this Institute (Keady et al. 1999) concluded that relative to silage offered ad libitum as the sole diet supplementation with 5 kg of concentrate during the last 28 days of gestation increased milk fat by 1.5 g/kg and improved milk yield by 0.6 kg/day during the first 12 weeks of the subsequent lactation. The response to dry cow supplementation reported by Keady et al. (1999) could have been mediated either by increased nutrient intake or by changes in the forage to concentrate ratio of the diet during the dry period. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of level of energy intake and source of nutrients in late gestation on subsequent milk yield and composition.