Performance, body fat reserves and plasma metabolites in Brown Swiss dairy cows: Indoor feeding versus pasture‐based feeding

Abstract

Feeding dairy cows indoors or on pasture affects not only labour, machinery and housing costs, but also animals' performance and metabolism. This study investigates the effects of indoor feeding (IF) with a partial-mixed ration (PMR) versus pasture-based feeding (PF) on milk production, fertility, backfat thickness (BFT), body weight (BW) loss and energy metabolism of Brown Swiss (BS) dairy cows with similar genetic production potential. The IF herd consisted of 13 cows fed a PMR composed of maize and grass silage plus protein concentrate according to each cow's requirements. The PF herd consisted of 14 cows offered barn-ventilated hay ad libitum after calving from January until March and grazed on semi-continuous pastures during the vegetation period. The IF cows produced more energy-corrected milk (ECM) per standard lactation (9,407 vs. 5,960 kg; p < .01), more milk fat (378 vs. 227 kg; p < .01) and milk protein (326 vs. 215 kg; p < .01). The calving interval (377 vs. 405 days; p < .01) and time empty (86 vs. 118 days; p < .01) were shorter in the PF compared to IF, possibly also due to different selection criteria for maintaining the respective seasonal calving rhythm. The empty body fat loss calculated according to BCS until its nadir was higher in IF cows (IF: 10.4 vs. PF: 4.8 MJ/day; p < .01), but no differences were noted in total body fat loss estimated via BFT (p = .24). However, PF had lower blood glucose concentration at all investigated time points, but no differences occurred in serum non-esterified fatty acid and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations post-partum. In conclusion, BS cows were equally well suited for the IF with PMR and the PF system investigated here without developing a prominent metabolic load despite differences in nutrient supply. As such, investigated BS dairy cows in our trial seem to have a high capacity for metabolic adaptation to different production systems.

Welfare Assessment on Pasture: A Review on Animal-Based Measures for Ruminants

“…Monitoring the BCS of grazing dairy cows is extremely useful and allows us to evaluate the energy balance in the various phases of the lactation cycle. Long periods on pasture with low energy intake cause an energy deficiency responsible for alterations in milk composition, milk yield and lactation persistency [62], and may be also related to reproductive performance [63]. During the grazing period, it is not always easy to fulfill dairy cows' nutritional requirements only through grazing.…”

N- en P-excretie melkvee: achtergronden en bronnen voor de berekening

“…LG. Bijvoorbeeld, vergelijkingen tussen TMR systemen (stalvoedering met ruwvoer) en weidegang laten een hoger gemiddeld LG zien bij TMR systemen dan bij weidegang (Fontaneli et al, 2005;O'Neill et al, 2011;Hofstetter et al, 2014;O'Callaghan et al, 2016;Cameron et al, 2018;Frey et al, 2018 Koeien nemen ook gedurende de derde lactatie (Koenen et al, 1999) en latere lactaties (Zom, 2014) nog in gewicht toe. De gewichtstoename is deels te verklaren door een hogere voeropname en grotere vulling van het maagdarmkanaal als gevolg van een grotere voeropnamecapaciteit.…”

Invited review: Metabolic challenges and adaptation during different functional stages of the mammary gland in dairy cows: Perspectives for sustainable milk production

“…Different dairy breeds tolerate environmental and feeding changes to a different extent. Holstein dairy cows expressed a high metabolic load but maintained milk production quite well during exclusive herbage feeding (Zbinden et al, 2017), whereas Brown Swiss cows reduced milk yield on pasture without a considerable metabolic load (Frey et al, 2018). Testing cows at an individual level to predict metabolic adaptation implies that adaptation response is genetically anchored.…”