Silage from maize (Zea mays), annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) or their mixture in the dry season feeding of grazing dairy cows in small-scale dairy production systems in the Highlands of Mexico

Abstract

Small-scale dairy systems based on grazing have dry-season herbage shortages. A repeated 3 x 3 Latin Square experiment evaluated grazing with silage from maize (MS), annual ryegrass (ARG) or a mixture (MIX) with 9 cows with 3 week periods; continuously grazed at 3.6 cows/ha with 3.6 kg DM/day of concentrate. Treatments were 7 kg DM of MS, ARG or a 2 MS:1 ARG mixture. Milk yield (MY), milk composition, live-weight, body condition, silage and concentrate intake were recorded. Herbage DM intake was estimated indirectly. Activity budgets were done for economic analysis. MY on MS (21.5 kg/cow/d) was 0.06 higher than on ARG (P < 0.09) with no differences on MIX. There were no differences for milk fat, milk protein, or body condition score. Live-weight on ARG was higher (P < 0.01) than on MS or MIX. Silage intake was higher (P < 0.01) on ARG and MS than on MIX. Herbage intake was lower (P < 0.05) on MS, compared with MIX and ARG. Total DM intake on ARG was higher than MS (P < 0.01), and MIX in between. MS resulted in 0.12 higher economic returns over ARG which had highest costs. Annual ryegrass may have a place in small-scale systems, but not as silage due to higher costs.

Intercropped oats (Avena sativa) - common vetch (Vicia sativa) silage in the dry season for small-scale dairy systems in the Highlands of Central Mexico

“…Milk fat content was low in both treatments, a condition that has been observed in other work in the area (Heredia-Nava et al 2007;Anaya-Ortega et al 2008). The low milk fat contents might be attributed to the strong influence of the American Holstein breed in the upgraded cattle of small-scale farmers in central Mexico who have also paid no particular attention to the milk fat and protein content or yields in the breeding value of the selected sires for artificial insemination since there are no price premiums or penalties in these systems for milk quality (Lara-Covarrubias et al 2003).…”

“…Therefore, an early maturing variety was sown instead of the usual long cycle varieties used by local farmers (sown in late March or early April). The ensuing MS showed similar CP contents, but higher ADF and ADL contents than other observations in the area with long cycle maize varieties (Guadarrama-Estrada et al 2007;Anaya-Ortega et al 2008). MS also had a similar protein content to that reported by Phipps et al (2000) with 303 g DM/kg and 74 g CP/kg DM.…”

“…However, MS had almost 50% more NDF and 82% more ADF. The suboptimal growing conditions due to late sowing, and the use of a short cycle variety, resulted in a low yielding, poor quality, fibrous maize silage crop, which may explain the lower productive response from that observed in other work (Guadarrama-Estrada et al 2007;Anaya-Ortega et al 2008).…”

Urea treated maize straw for small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Central Mexico

“…If so, urea treated maize straw may be an alternative to improve the feeding of dairy cows in small-scale systems, particularly for the smaller scale farmers who usually do not have other roughage sources available in the dry season. Urea treated maize straw may also be used in combination with higher quality forages like grazed or cut and carry pasture, or silages, that have been demonstrated as viable options for small-scale dairy farmers (Heredia-Nava et al 2007;Anaya-Ortega et al 2008).…”

Local feeding strategies and milk composition in small-scale dairy production systems during the rainy season in the highlands of Mexico

“…A limiting factor in these systems in the highlands of central Mexico is the high feeding costs, the component that contributes most to total production costs (EspinozaOrtega et al 2007;Anaya-Ortega et al 2009); and feed composition does exert a strong effect on milk composition (Jenkins and McGuire 2006). Therefore, diet composition is considered as a factor that on the one hand incides directly on production costs, but on the other hand it enables the manipulation of milk solids composition (Coleman et al 2010).…”