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Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research
Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA
ISSN: 0718-5820 EISSN: 0718-5820
Vol. 78, No. 3, 2018, pp. 409-418
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Bioline Code: cj18040
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge
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Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 78, No. 3, 2018, pp. 409-418
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Changes in herbage mass and time of herbage allocation modify nutritional and metabolic status of dairy cows
Morales, Álvaro; Godoy, Marisol; Beltrán, Ignacio; Muller, Ananda; Balocchi, Oscar & Pulido, Rubén
Abstract
In temperate milk production systems, it is important to study the effect of grazing strategies in both the quantity and
quality of the diet, resulting in potential impacts on animal metabolism. The aim was to evaluate the effect of timing of
herbage allocation and herbage mass on blood indicators. Forty Holstein-Friesian cows were grouped according to milk
production (24.7 ± 2.8 kg cow-1), body weight (580.6 ± 51.7 kg) and days in milk (74 ± 17.1 d). The groups were randomly
allocated to one of four treatments: 1) L-AM, access to new herbage allocation after morning milking with herbage mass
of 2000 kg DM ha-1; 2) L-PM; access to new herbage allocation after afternoon milking with herbage mass of 2000 kg
DM ha-1; 3) H-AM; access to new herbage allocation after morning milking with herbage mass of 3000 kg DM ha-1; 4)
H-PM; access to new herbage allocation after afternoon milking with herbage mass of 3000 kg DM ha-1. Milk production
was only different for H-PM in 1.1 kg higher than L-PM. Urea in milk was affected by treatments, being 22% higher for
L-AM than other treatments. β-Hydroxybutyrate and blood urea concentrations were 47% and 30% higher, respectively,
for AM compared to PM treatments. Plasma albumin concentration was lower for H-PM compared to other treatments at
week 3 of blood sampling. PM treatments modify the herbage composition and animal metabolism, while combining it
with a high herbage mass impacts positively in production and milk composition.
Keywords
Autumn pasture; dairy cows; grazing system; metabolism; pasture management.
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