702. 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

Abstract

1. An experiment was conducted to compare the relative value for winter milk production of artificially dried cocksfoot and a mixture of timothy and meadow-fescue each cut in the spring and autumn.2. A double balanced 4×4 Latin square design with eight Ayrshire cows and four periods each of 3 weeks' duration was used.3. The dried grasses were fed in equal amounts (17 lb./cow/day) and equal quantities of each grass were consumed in terms of dry matter. Approximately half the total dry matter intake was grass.4. No differences were detected between the cocksfoot and the timothy/meadow-fescue mixtures in their value for milk production.5. With both cocksfoot and timothy/meadow-fescue the spring-grown grass gave slightly higher milk yields than the autumn-grown grasses but the differences were not statistically significant.6. Feeding the spring-grown dried grasses led to a slightly higher solids-not-fat content in the milk than when the autumn-grown grasses were fed.7. The feeding of the autumn grown timothy/meadow-fescue grass mixture was associated with a significant loss of live weight in the cows. It was suggested that this loss of weight was due primarily to changes in the amount of the contents of the rumen and intestines.