Dairy cows grazing an alpine pasture: effect of pattern of supplement allocation on herbage intake, body condition, milk yield and coagulation properties

Abstract

The effect of two patterns of concentrate allocation were studied on twenty-eight Italian Brown cows (initial milk yield, 19.4 kg.d(-1)) grazing an alpine pasture. One group was supplemented at a flat rate, based on the initial milk production (Flat Supplement, FS), while the second was supplemented at a declining rate, according to the decline of lactation (Declining Supplement, DS). During an 8-week period in July and August, the cows were moved onto 8 successive sectors, ensuring a daily herbage allowance of 20 kg of dry matter per cow. The crude protein content of the herbage decreased from 19.5% at the beginning to 12.4% at the end, while the fibre fractions showed an opposite trend. The DS group showed a slightly higher, not significant, herbage intake (10.9 vs. 10.6 kg OM.d(-1)). BCS changes were in no case different from 0. The milk yield was positively affected by the FS (17.0 kg.d(-1) vs. 15.2 kg.d(-1)); no difference was observed in milk composition. Coagulation properties were satisfactory without any appreciable effect of the two treatments