The use of concentrate feeding for dairy cows grazing good pangolagrass pastures. II. Winter results

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in the winters of 1964 and 1965, to study the effects of concentrate feeding of dairy cows grazing good Pangolagrass pastures. Pasture alone was compared with pasture and two levels of concentrate suplementation: a) 1 kg per each 3 kg of miIk produced above 5 kg, and b) 1 kg for each 3 kg of milk. Concentrate feeding resulted in higher milk production, 740 and 1,416 gm FCM per cow per day for the lower and higher levels, respectively. The increase in milk production, however, did not pay for the concentrate feeding. No influence was observed on animal weight or butterfat content. New studies are suggested in order to determine more precisely the contribution of high quality tropical pastures to milk production.