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The effect of forage grinding and cutting height of urea treated whole crop wheat on the milk production and diet digestibility in dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

M.A. Jackson ,
L.A. Sinclair ,
R. Readman  and
J. Huntington
M.A. Jackson
Affiliation:
Harper Adams University College, Edgmond, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 8NB, UK
L.A. Sinclair
Affiliation:
Harper Adams University College, Edgmond, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 8NB, UK
J. Huntington
Affiliation:
Harper Adams University College, Edgmond, Newport, Shropshire, TF10 8NB, UK
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Extract

It has previously been demonstrated that feeding urea treated whole crop wheat to dairy cows results in a significant increase in dry matter intake but has little effect on milk yield (Sutton et al, 1997). Part of the reason behind this lack of response has been attributed to a decrease in digestibility, particularly that of starch. A forage mill has recently been developed which allow the grains to be ground prior to ensiling and potentially increase their digestibility. An alternative way to increase the energy value of whole crop wheat is to increase cutting/stubble height. Work by Weller et al, (1995) demonstrated an increase in calculated ME from 10.6 to 11.2 MJ/kg DM by increasing stubble height from 10cm to 40cm. The objective of the current experiment was therefore to determine the effects of forage processing (grinding) and cutting height at harvest of urea-treated whole crop wheat on the intake, milk production and diet digestibility in dairy cows.

Type
Theatre Presentations
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 2002 , 2002 , pp. 13
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2002

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References

Sutton, J.D, Abdalla, A.L, Phipps, R.H, Cammell, S.B, and Humpries, D.J. 1997. The effect of the replacement of grass silage by increasing proportions of urea-treated whole-crop wheat on food intake and apparent digestibility and milk production in dairy cows. Animal Science, 65: 343–351.Google Scholar
Weller, R.F., Cooper, A. and Dhanoa, M. S. (1995). The selection of winter wheat varieties from whole crop cereal conservation. Grass and Forage Science 50: 172–177.Google Scholar