Feeding of Sugar Cane Silage to Dairy Cattle during the Dry Season

Suksombat, W.; Junpanichcharoen, P.

doi:2005.18.8.1125

Article

Ruminant Nutrition and Forage Utilization

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 2005;18(8): 1125-1129.
https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2005.1125 Published online November 29, 2005.

Feeding of Sugar Cane Silage to Dairy Cattle during the Dry Season

W. Suksombat, P. Junpanichcharoen

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effect of feeding sugar cane silage compared to chopped whole sugar cane or grass silage on performances of lactating dairy cows during the dry season. Twenty four Holstein Friesian crossbred (>87.5% Holstein Friesian) lactating dairy cows in mid lactation; averaging 15.4 3.2 kg of milk, 120 23 days in milk, 50.5 6.5 months old and 432 39 kg live weight, were stratified for milk yield, days in milk, age, stage of lactation and body weight, and then randomly allocated to three treatment groups (8 cows in each group). All cows were fed 7.5 kg/d commercial concentrate plus ad libitum roughage according to treatment groups, which were grass silage, sugar cane silage or chopped whole sugar cane respectively. All cows consumed similar DM and produced similar milk and milk composition yields. However, cows on grass silage lost more weight than the other cows. The present study indicated that, during the dry season, sugar cane silage can be fed to lactating dairy cows, while giving similar milk yield to grass silage or chopped whole sugar cane.

Keywords: Sugar Cane Silage; Chopped Whole Sugar Cane; Grass Silage; Lactating Dairy Cows