The effect of feeding sequence on fat concentration in milk

Abstract

Eighteen multiparous dairy cows in mid-lactation were used in an experiment with a 2 x 2 latin-square design. During each 3-week period, the cows were offered a diet composed of a restricted amount of hay supplemented with a mixture of barley and soya-bean meal (ground and pelleted), given 1 h either after (HC treatment) or before the hay (CH treatment). The concentrate represented 50% of the total dry matter in the diet. The feeding sequence had no effect on the resultant milk yield (20.2 and 20.4 kg/day, respectively, in HC and CH treatment) or milk composition (respectively, 38.2 and 38.2 g/kg for fat concentration and 28.7 and 28.8 g/kg for protein concentration). Except for some slight modifications in ruminal digestion, the feeding sequence had no significant effect on the dairy cow performances. It is possible that the concentrate proportion in the diet was not high enough to elicit a low fat concentration under the CH treatment.