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- Title
Pasture condition and milk production by grazing dairy cows as affected by daily herbage-allowance restriction.
- Authors
Merino, V. M.; Balocchi, O. A.; Pulido, R. G.
- Abstract
Daily herbage allowance is recognised as the main tool to control pasture utilisation and milk production per cow. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the long-term effects of daily herbage allowance (DHA) on pasture characteristics and milk production of dairy cows. Forty-four dairy cows were randomly assigned to one of four treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design by considering two levels of DHA (20 and 30 kg DM/cow.day) and two types of supplements (high-moisture maize and maize silage) over a 77-day period. Pre- and post-grazing herbage masses, vertical distribution of herbage mass, species density, botanical and chemical composition, sward depletion and changes in morphological components of the pasture were measured. The effect of DHA on soil compaction was evaluated on the basis of the penetration resistance. Milk production and composition levels, bodyweights and body condition scores were recorded. Post-grazing residual declined as the level of DHA decreased, while grazing efficiency increased from 39.8% to 44.8%. We found no effects of DHA on any pasture characteristics, pasture regrowth or soil compaction. Low-DHA conditions induced a faster sward-height reduction, while the herbage mass remained unaffected. Individual milk production decreased with DHA. However, milk outputs per hectare increased by 2772 L/ha. Milk composition, bodyweight and body condition score were not affected by DHA. The results showed that DHA restriction decreases milk production per cow while increasing both herbage utilisation and milk production per hectare, without affecting long-term pasture condition. Daily herbage allowance is the major grazing management facet of pasture-based dairy-production systems. The study evaluated the long-term effects of daily herbage allowance on pasture condition and milk production of dairy cows. The results showed that using 20 kg DM/cow.day of daily herbage allowance was appropriate to improve both herbage utilisation and milk production per hectare, without affecting long-term pasture condition.
- Subjects
MILK yield; PASTURES; FORAGE plants; RANGE management; SOIL compaction; COMPOSITION of milk
- Publication
Animal Production Science, 2019, Vol 59, Issue 8, p1510
- ISSN
1836-0939
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1071/AN17425