Supplemental Carbohydrate Sources for Lactating Dairy Cows on Pasture

Comparison of three techniques for estimating the forage intake of lactating dairy cows on pasture.

Quantifying DMI is necessary for estimation of nutrient consumption by ruminants, but it is inherently difficult on grazed pastures and even more so when supplements are fed. Our objectives were to compare three methods of estimating forage DMI (inference from animal performance, evaluation from fecal output using a pulse-dose marker, and estimation from herbage disappearance methods) and to id...

Influence of corn silage particle length on the performance of lactating dairy cows fed supplemental tallow.

The objective of this study was to determine if the length of chop of processed corn silage influences the impact of supplemental fat on rumen fermentation and performance of dairy cows. We hypothesized that increasing forage particle length may alleviate the interference of fat on rumen fermentation. Sixteen Holstein cows averaging 120 d in milk were used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square des...

Fat-Feeding Practices for Lactating Dairy Cows

Supplementing cows with fat can have several beneficial effects. It usually increases the energy density of the diet as starch or fiber is replaced with fatty acids. If milk production is increased, then feed efficiency may be improved. Less heat may be produced in the rumen during digestion of fat-supplemented diets as fatty acids are not digested in the rumen. Less heat produced during digest...

Carbohydrate nutrition for lactating dairy cattle

Effect of carbohydrate source on ammonia utilization in lactating dairy cows.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dextrose, starch, NDF, and a carbohydrate (CHO) mix on utilization of ruminal ammonia in dairy cows. Four ruminally and duodenally cannulated Holstein cows (BW = 788 +/- 31 kg; 217 +/- 35 d in milk) were allocated to four treatments in a 4 x 4 Latin square design trial. Cows were fed an all alfalfa diet at 12-h intervals (DMI = 22.2 +/- 0.25...