Pasture condition and milk production by grazing dairy cows as affected by daily herbage-allowance restriction
V. M. Merino A D , O. A. Balocchi B E and R. G. Pulido C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Graduate School, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Austral de Chile, PO Box 567, Valdivia, Chile.
B Institute of Animal Production, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Austral de Chile, PO Box 567, Valdivia, Chile.
C Institute of Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Universidad Austral de Chile, PO Box 567, Valdivia, Chile.
D Present address: Faculty of Agriculture, Universidad de Concepción, PO Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile.
E Corresponding author. Email: obalocch@uach.cl
Animal Production Science 59(8) 1510-1519 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN17425
Submitted: 27 June 2017 Accepted: 3 October 2018 Published: 10 January 2019
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.
Additional keywords: dairy cow, grazing efficiency, milk production, pasture utilisation.
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