The effect of frequency of feeding on milk secretion in the Ayrshire cow

Abstract

Summary: Four Ayrshire cows in their second lactation were used in a 4×4 Latin square experiment to determine the effects of frequency of feeding on milk secretion. The animals were given a diet consisting of hay, sugar-beet pulp and dairy concentrates (34·9:19·7:45·5 on a dry-matter basis) either in 2 equal meals/d at 07.00 and 17.00 h or with the hay in 4 meals at 07.00, 12.00, 17.00 and 22.00 h and the sugar-beet pulp and concentrates in 24-h meals. Each feeding frequency was tested at 2 levels of feeding providing either 100 or 80% of the standard requirements for energy.There were no significant effects of frequency of feeding on milk yield or on the milk content of fat, protein, lactose, solids-not-fat or total solids, but underfeeding depressed the yield of milk and of all milk constituents. Neither the frequency nor level of feeding had appreciable effects on the fatty-acid composition of the milk fat or on the blood glucose concentration, but in animals fed frequently plasma urea levels were lower than in animals fed twice daily and there was no postprandial peak in urea concentration.